I stared at Nell, mouth agape. It had dawned on me that she was more important than she alleged to be, but my flirtatious, spirited best friend as the queen of an ancient civilization was an insane pill to swallow.
Every woman of the crew fell to their knees, the first time they had done so since finding us on The Seaductress.
“Long live Queen PeNelope,” they cried in one unified voice.
“Not bloody likely with this plan, is it, love?” SuEllen’s lips barely moved through her stoic expression, but those on the top deck could discern her words well enough.
Nell shot me a look that conveyed my own thoughts clearly.
I sure as hell hope we know what we’re doing.
Epilogue
“Of course, Father doesn’t like me to train anymore. It used to be my least favorite part of my lessons, but now I go out of my way to do it in secret.” BeLa gave a shaky laugh at admitting to disobeying her father. “When Mother comes back, I want her to be proud. She was always so concerned…” She trailed off in the middle of her stream of words. It had been so long since she had been able to talk to anyone about her life, she found once she started, she couldn’t really stop.
Besides, something about the man she was currently sharing her workroom with invited confidences. She had been raised to believe men were barbarians, first by culture, then by what she had witnessed. The man before her now didn’t look like a monster, though.
In fact, he looked like no one she had ever seen. BeLa stepped closer to his prone form, taking in the lean muscles, the skin several shades lighter than her own. Her eyes drifted up to the ginger freckles on his face, the pale eyelashes against his cheeks.
She was rarely allowed to socialize, and never with men. Even the staff who brought her meals was exclusively female. Standing next to this man was the closest she had been to one, but the proximity had ceased to faze her. After more than a week of caring for him, BeLa even felt comfortable looping her finger through one of his fiery curls.
Not for the first time, she wondered, “Who is this man, and will he ever wake up?”
THE END
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The Silent Explosion Short Story
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Acknowledgments
This part is always so hard because so many people come together to make a book happen. First of all, thank you to all the amazing readers, bloggers, and Bookstagrammers who enjoyed The Fractured Empire! Your kind words helped to shape the second book in The World Apart Series.
A huge thank you to Brianna, who has always gone far beyond her duties as either a PA or an editor. I’m not sure we could have launched this series at all without your help, and your continued support enables us to keep writing.
LaCrissa, your late nights with wine and character debates and emoting all over the place were invaluable. Thank you for taking The Tempest Sea that extra mile and keeping our tiny monsters so we could finish this manuscript!
Jamie, you saved my series not once but twice with your amazing edits! Thank you for enabling my procrastination and not forcing me to miss my deadlines.
A heartfelt thank you to my two munchkins for taking their adorable loud mouths to bed early enough for us to write every night.
All the authors at PennedCon and on Facebook sites like AAYAA, your advice was so incredibly helpful.
We’re excited for the next two installments of The World Apart Series!
About the Author
The name Robin D. Mahle represents a dynamic husband and wife storytelling team. They’ve travelled the world for both love and war, and a tale began to form between the two of them that just had to be told. One’s love of anime and comics collided with the other’s love of fiction novels to produce a story with action, captivating dialogue, and riveting prose.
The female piece to the puzzle that is Robin spends her days as a captioner for the deaf and hard of hearing. She loves to read, write, and loves all things Doctor Who. A Marine Corps veteran, her husband homeschools their offspring, lovingly nicknamed Thing 1 and Thing 2. He loves to write and spend time in his garden.They also have two fur babies: a standard full-sized poodle and a persian cat. Their family lives in Colorado after a lifetime of being way too hot in Texas.
Also by Robin D. Mahle
The World Apart Series:
The Fractured Empire (Book 1)
The Tempest Sea (Book 2)
COMING SOON
The Forgotten World, Book 3 of The World Apart Series
Winter’s Captive, Book 1 of The Lochlann Treaty Series
The Tempest Sea Page 26