The story:
Are they merely luckless lovers … or a legend come back to life?
Mark Denaltieri, ex-Sector Special Forces, has been hired by the Outlier Empress to rescue her granddaughter, Princess Alessandra, from kidnappers. Since the Empress once had him tortured and banished, she’s the last person Mark wants to work for. But he takes the job. He’ll save Alessandra, his first love, and discover why she didn’t speak for him when he desperately needed her. Then he’ll be on his way, finally free of his past.
Alessandra would rather her rescuer was anyone but Mark–after all, he let her believe he was dead all this time. But when the couple are forced to flee her captors by Traveling via a strange crystal globe, they find themselves in a lovely Oasis on a desert planet, the old attraction sizzling between them again.
They soon discover they are far from alone. The Oasis holds the entrance to another world, one in which the inhabitants are convinced Sandy and Mark are the Lady of the Star Wind and her Warrior, come to free them from an evil Queen.
Mark and Sandy must work together to unearth an ancient mirror, and crown the true king of this land. Can they fulfill the prophecy of the Lady and her Warrior … and this time, will their love survive the test?
The Excerpt:
“Behold the Globes of Amarkana.” She yanked at a corner of
what Mark had assumed to be the tent’s rear wall. The shimmering panel fell
away, revealing a tree taller than Mark fashioned entirely from crystal.
Jagged, sharp branches of clear glass, patterned with leaves incised deep into
the surface, jutted from a thick trunk at odd angles. At the tip of each branch
hung a perfect golden ball, ethereal bubbles made of solid material. The globes
were translucent, empty at first glance, but then Mark saw faint spirals of
white smoke in some, flickering lightning in others, flames in a few. Several
appeared to contain misty rain droplets suspended as if captured in midair…the
branches stirred with a faint chiming sound.
“The time
is nearly gone.” Lajollae’s voice broke into their fascination.
He checked
the floating timer. Sure enough, the upper bubble was almost empty of the
sparkling contents, sagging in upon itself. “What do we do?”
“Pick the globe
meant for you,” Lajollae said. “You’ll know which one is your destiny.”
“What if we
pick differently?” Sandy clutched at his sleeve. “I can’t lose you again!”
Lajollae
shook her head. “You can each choose your own destination, or one may decide
for both.”
Mark and
Sandy exchanged glances. “We stick together,” he said, clenching his jaw.
“Agreed, this mad escapade we’re on
is because I trusted you,” Sandy said, releasing his sleeve with a smile that
didn’t reach her eyes. “So I trust you to decide for us.”
Mark took a
step toward the globes, studying them, trying to decide which to pick, not sure
what would happen next—there was no retreat, no other way to end this.
He kept
going back to one particular globe, high on the tree, dangling precariously on
its crystal branch. Nothing differentiated this bubble from all the rest, but
it drew him nonetheless.
When he
stretched to touch the globe, it fell into his hand.
“You’ve
chosen, now breathe the air of the destination you’ve selected,” Lajollae said
in a harsh whisper. “Make haste, for your time is over—I’m leaving this place
for my next station.”
Mark
stared at the surprisingly heavy globe in his hand, not sure what she wanted
him to do. Breathe the air? Was that what the shimmering glass encapsulated—air
from somewhere else?
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