Great news readers! I have finally, finally put the last words down for the fourth book of the Amber Aerie Lord's series: The Dragon's Assassin!
There are so many reasons that this particular book has taken me so incredibly long to pen. The biggest of which was that I started it shortly after completing The Warrior's Fate, and then life hit me with a big, and rather traumatic event. After that I trudged on for a bit, but I eventually quit writing altogether. It was only this last year or so that I finally found myself once more and returned to what I love; creating stories and sharing them. Unfortunately, I find that life has changed me a great deal and when I returned to pick up The Dragon's Assassin where I left off I struggled with a feeling of disconnect with the story, and I've fought to remedy that ever since.
So what happens in my writing process now?
Well, first I will let the story sit for a week or two. Step back from it and work on something completely different (ie the third story in my Distant Worlds Collection). Then I will do an editing pass that ensures that the story is as complete as I can get it. Usually this takes a week or two, but for reasons previously mentioned this time might be a bit longer.
After that I will send the rough draft to my beta readers for insight into how the story flows for them. If there's anything that they find confusing or disjointed, etc. Once those issues are corrected as well as I can manage, the piece gets touched up and goes to my editor, Shannon VanSach. And I send in for my cover to be done.
Then there's formatting and uploading onto the various retail sites, which is relatively easy.
So, while I do not yet have a release date, simply because there are other people involved in my process, we are getting much, much closer to the continuation of the series!
And now, as promised, some free content. Chapter 3 of Cassidy's story.

CHAPTER 3
It was dawn when Cassidy found herself outside of the dormitory. The wind had picked up as the sun rose, tossing leaves and debris down the compound street. The scent of a storm hung heavy in the air, though there was no sign of it in the sky, just silky clouds stained red by the day’s beginning.
She frowned down at the black oltec, the intelligent and shifting armor that the Livarians wore. Someone had given up their set so that she might have protection. Unfortunately, the material didn’t seem to like her. It tightened, nearly painfully, the cool touch of it flowing downward to her wrists before breaking out in sharp looking spikes along the back of her arms.
She squeaked in alarm.
“Not to worry,” Lim came up behind her, placing a hand on the material at her back. He must have sent a signal to the armor because it softened a little. “It’s in defense mode. You might want to calm down a little. Your heart rate is indicating an attack and the oltec is reacting.”
Oh yes, the armor is squeezing her to death but just let her calm the fuck down.
She’d always sucked at the deep breathing yoga bullshit, but she tried anyway, closing her eyes and inhaling as wide as she could in the restriction of the suit.
It took nearly a minute, but the spikes slowly retracted, the armor itself loosening, fitting along her chest and shoulders more like a snug jacket than a cage.
Huh.
Lim smiled at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling a little. “Ready?” he asked.
Was she ready? She hadn’t left the safety of the compound since the long treck from the portal that had brought her there. That journey had been traumatic in and of itself. Now she was going out voluntarily. Nerves punched at her gut. The suit stiffened subtly.
Nope. She wasn’t ready at all, but she had promised to look at the trees, so she nodded anyway.
Livarians surrounded her. A team of five, including Lim. Soldiers, she reminded herself, she was well guarded. There was no reason for the feeling of panic that kept trying to build within her.
One of the members tapped on the light tool he carried, putting in the information that would allow them to pass through the energy field, and then they moved forward and before she knew it she was free from the protection of the compound.
The suit tightened again, the exterior hardening into a shell-like finish.
At least there were no spikes. Yet.
She focused on the buildings surrounding her. Within the compound the structures were mostly intact. If there had ever been signs of the decay of time the Livarians had brushed them away. Everything was clean and orderly and up-kept. Outside, in the depths of the city...things were sad. Broken empty buildings with unkempt greenery poking through here and there, the placement random and wild. Nature had begun to reclaim what was rightfully hers.
She tried to imagine what the place one was. How the people, the Livarians. Men, women, even children must have walked the streets and lived within the buildings. What was Virkaith, this city, like at its peak? The thoughts brought on a soft melancholy, especially in contrast to the men that walked warily next to her. Did they remember these places? Were they haunted by the ghosts of their loved ones in these buildings and roads?
Movement ahead on the street caught her eye.
Instantly her heart thundered against her ribs and she froze.
“Easy,” Lim told her softly. “It is but a coofci, see the spines?”
Cassidy glanced at him, and then at the other men, who had stopped with her but did not seem overly alarmed at the creature.
Ok. Maybe she was overreacting a little. On closer examination the creature did not look as though it was meant to barrel down the street and attack. It was broad and rather flat, about the size of a small car, and walked like the aligators she knew lurked down by the rivers at home. Long quill-like spikes adorned its back, and it seemed able to raise them up and flatten them at will. Pale eyes and a long snout with whiskers visible even at this distance meant it probably relied on scent rather than sight.
It emitted a grunting snort as it moved, which, she had to admit, made it rather adorable.
She was completely unprepared, then, for the beast that dropped from the sky.
A furred body with long leathery wings, sharp talons on its hind feet and a razor sharp beak full of equally sharp teeth.
The armor spread down her body and up over her head in a flash, solidifying, spiking and whatever else it was that the armor could do. And she was left choking on her shriek and staring out through a view panel with livarian symbols and stats running along the side.
The winged beast ripped at the coofci, tearing at its back and using the long beak to snap at the head that was now flailing back and forth with desperation. The spines of the coofci tried to stand, but with the creature pinning most of them down the attempt at defense was ineffectual.
“Come, we should go around,” Lim’s voice echoed through the helmet.
Cassidy didn’t move, her attention fixed on the drama ahead of her.
“Hey,” Lim’s face came into view before he cursed. “It’s alright, Cassidy, it is distracted with the coofci.” He paused. “You’re shaking.”
She was. She was trembling from head to toe. The closest thing she’d come to like this attack was a documentary or two on the nature channel. She’d never even watched the fat tomcat that hung around the orchard catch a mouse. It didn’t help that the winged creature was as big as a bus. It was just luck it had decided on the coofci and missed them entirely.
“This way.” When she still didn’t move Lim supported her arm and pulled her into an alleyway, the other Livarians following but none in full armor. Cassidy spared one last glance at the battle. The coofci was thrashing now whipping its body around and stabbing into the winged creature’s legs with the spines that it had managed to raise.
When they were well away from the scene Lim stopped and tapped at the armor until the helmet receded.
“Here,” he pushed a container at her, one full of cool water by the feel of it. “Drink,” he commanded.
The cool liquid sliding down her throat brought back a bit of awareness. She swallowed it greedily before gasping for the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.
“Are you okay?” Lim’s concerned gaze studied her.
Oh no, she so wasn’t.
“We can keep you safe, Cassidy, but if you want to go back I will understand.”
Her first instinct was to agree. To insist on returning to the compound and the energy field, where she was safe from terrifying creatures that fell from the sky. And he wouldn’t even be angry. She knew he wouldn’t. Nor would anyone else within the compound. There would be no shame or guilt that she had failed to do as she had promised. Not from anyone except herself anyway.
She swallowed heavily. This was the world she had chosen, she had elected to stay.
“I can go on,” she told him with a shuddering breath. “Let’s keep going.”
He studied her for a moment and then nodded and slapped her on the armored shoulder. “Then let’s go.”
Loving this short story! I wonder who Cassidy will fall for? Is it a Livarian we know??