Sale for Christmas

As a little treat, I’m putting my entire General’s series (The Sangrian Tiger’s Tale) up for sale for the next week. Starting on Monday, December 21, each of the first three books will be just 99 cents. You can find them on Amazon.

The General’s Guardian: A Sangrian Tiger’s Tale: Book I  

The General’s Choice: A Sangrian Tiger’s Tale: Book II

The Guardian’s Ground Rules: A Sangrian Tiger’s Tale: Book III 

As another special treat, I’m going to give you a little snippet from Book IV. I’m still working on this book, but here is a bit from the begining :).

The General’s Challenge: The Sangrian Tiger’s Tale, Book IV

“Keridwen…”

“What,” Keridwen snapped before Silver could get any more out.  “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

Silver frowned, not liking Keridwen comment at all.  They’d had a busy day, but that didn’t excuse Keridwen being curt with her. The camp had been cleaned out, with the bulk of the troops being sent back with the twins and the mothers to Fort Hawk. The rest had moved into more secure quarters at the inn.  Keridwen, Silver, and Kaileigh had taken rooms, while Keridwen’s men filled in the rest, including a few tents on the immediate grounds. Keridwen also sent out multiple messages; to Fort Lion, Keridwen’s men who had already left for Fort Lion, Fort Hawk, and along the path that would eventually reach the Capital.

It had taken quite a bit of talking on Silver’s part to keep Keridwen in town and not follow her men to Fort Lion. The ransom note was rather cryptic and made demands that weren’t possible.  Keridwen wasn’t going to leave without her niece, and although she’d pulled the troops back, she wasn’t going to leave Silver or herself vulnerable either. After a bit of back and forth, Keridwen had reluctantly agreed that banging on Arther’s door personally probably wouldn’t be the best thing for their niece.  Staying in town was a compromise, one that Silver hoped didn’t backfire.

Instead, they’d settled in and decided it was best to wait for more information.  There would have to be a second contact and Keridwen was hoping that showing that she’d was willing to compromise would be enough.  Currently, she was studying a map that was spread out across the table, and she was clearly irritated.

Silver frowned. She could understand Keridwen’s worry.  She was also terrified that something would happen to their niece, but until they had more information, they simply couldn’t act.  Keridwen, however, wasn’t doing either of them a favor by neglecting herself. 

Even before Little Keridwen had gone missing, Silver had been told that the General had not been eating or sleeping.  She had hoped that the chat they’d had before the fire would have made Keridwen more willing, but then she could hardly blame her either.  Even though they’d talked about it, Keridwen hadn’t been the only one neglecting herself.  Silver hadn’t been doing much better.  Now that they were back together, she was going to try harder.  She was also was going to make sure Keridwen was a least making the barest effort to keep herself healthy.

With that thought in mind, Silver put a hand on Keridwen’s shoulder, forcing her to look up from the map.  “I want you to take a break and eat,” she ordered simply.

“Silver,” Keridwen responded, her tone clearly a whine.  “I’m trying to think here.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, which only seemed to make Keridwen pout.  The General was tired, and her actions were doing nothing but advertising it.  “Come over to the bed, Keridwen. Sit with me and eat.  We can talk. Maybe we can brainstorm this a bit.”

“With all due respect, that’s all I’ve been doing since we got that blasted note.  There is something about it that just doesn’t add up, and I can’t figure it out.  I’m missing something.”

“Then let’s talk about it.  Maybe we can figure it out together.”

Keridwen set her jaw, but after a moment, finally snapped, “Fine.”

Silver set her own jaw and in one swift motion, gave the General a swat with her palm across her backside.

“Hey!” Keridwen immediately protested.  Her own hand went to her bottom as she strategically turned away from Silver.  “What was that for?”

“Where do I start?” Silver countered.  “Sit. Eat.  And drop the attitude.”

Keridwen’s lip actually tucked into a pout, but she wisely didn’t argue as she scooted past Silver and took a seat on the bed.  Silver joined her and after a long minute, Keridwen looked up and met Silver’s eyes.  “I’m sorry,” she said.  “This whole mess.  It’s too much.”

Silver reached across the bed and hugged Keridwen.  “It’s going to be okay, honey.  I know, I worried about her too, but they wouldn’t dare hurt her.  It’s only a stalling tactic to gain some sort of advantage.  Arther is probably going to make a run for the border.”

Keridwen slowly shook her head.  “I should have gone with them.”

“I know it feels like we are doing nothing but think about it — the biggest way we can put Little Keridwen in danger is to pressure them.  We have to step back, for her sake.”

Keridwen again shook her head but let out a long sigh.  When she again met Silver’s eyes, they were glazed over with tears.  “How can I ever face my sister again if something happens to my niece.  I’m such a failure.  I feel helpless and trapped.  How could this even happen?”

Silver shifted again and pulled Keridwen closer. She could feel her own eyes begin to sting with tears.  “It’s my fault.  I should have taken her back.  I let my own worry about you and the twins overshadow my senses.  I should have just turned around and brought her straight back to the castle.”

“No, you did the right thing.  You had to take the chance for our girls.  Who knows how long they could have evaded those imposters?  It is I that should have had my men guarding them.  I should have had more patrols.  That fire should have never happened.”

“A lot shouldn’t have happened, Keridwen, but we can’t change the past.  We can only move forward.”

“Even if Little Keridwen pays the price?”

Silver frowned.  “We won’t let that happen.”

“Silver, we have no control.”

Silver fingered the locket around her neck.  “I’m tired of having no control.  We’re going to take it back.”

“How?”

“We are going to start by eating dinner and getting a good night’s sleep.  Tomorrow is a new day, and we are going to face it together.”