Title: Soul of a Mercenary
Author: Angela Verdenius
Published in May 2003 by Wings ePress
Genre: Futuristic/Sci-Fi Romance
IBSN: 1-59088-184-2
Related Books: (1) Heart of an Outlaw • (3) Heart of the Betrayed • (4) Love's Sweet Assassin • (5) Soul of a Hunter • (6) Love's Bewitching Thief • (7) Heart of the Forsaken • (8) Soul of a Witch • (9) Heart of a Traitor • (10) Soul of the Forgotten • (11) Love's Beguiling Healer • (12) Heart of a Peacekeeper • (13) Soul of a Predator • (14) Love's Winsome Warrior • (15) Heart of a Smuggler • (16) Soul of a Guardian •
She is Reeka, she is the leader of that race of warrior women, and she is in big trouble. Her sister was happy, married to the Daamen trader who had stood beside them. Darvk made all the worlds see what wrongs had been done to them in the sickness that was fostered in a festering and hate-filled mind. The past was gone, resolved for the rest, but not for her. Reya was haunted by events of the past, and time had not healed these wounds, nor could it blunt the edge on which she walked. The secret she held had driven strong men into insanity, and yet she has managed to stay alive and sane. She has walked sanity's razor edge for the last three years now, and though she is stable now, one never knew when the balance would shift and she would topple helplessly and hopelessly into the black pit that yawned below her. Reya was driven. and she strove to maintain what little bit of sanity she had left. Along with her sister-cousin, Dana, she left the peace of the settlement, and once again fought her way into infamy. She knew that if Dana had knowledge of what drove her to leave the peace that the others had, she too, would turn away in revulsion.
That Reya so was troubled, was not readily visible, for she hid her feelings well. Many years she and her sister by blood, Tenia, had led the Reeka, as they were pursued and persecuted across the sector. The Reeka were hounded unmercifully, and found refuge only in the depths of the "Outlaw Sector", where they survived by using their warrior skills and hired out as mercenaries. Reya had made quite a name for herself. Although the Reeka as a whole were feared and respected as warriors, none was as deadly or as feared as the Warrior Reya. She knew that she was looked on with awe and fear, her icy gaze missing nothing, and causing even the roughest of the miscreants that crossed her path to scuttle back into the shadows from which they came. The only problem she encountered in a long time now was the one she now faced. A blond-haired, brown-eyed Daamen trader named Maverk. Now it seemed she would never shake him.
The wench was truly driving him crazy! Why she would not believe him was beyond his comprehension, but it seemed that he was going to have to work a bit harder to convince her to come home. Her sister was about to give birth to a child, and had dispatched him and Garrett to bring Reya and Dana back home. Now the wench had defied him yet again, taking off and leaving them in the dust. Well, Maverk had found her once, he would find her again and again, and how ever many times it was necessary. She had hurt him badly when she had left without saying a word, and it still rankled that he could not seem to break through that icy facade. His warrior maiden was also an ice princess, but he had seen the fire beneath the ice. He knows well the fires that rage there and although the coating is thick, he is certain that he can release the warrior's passion. He also knows, with a soul-deep certainty that she is the only woman for him.
Maverk knows that she hides something, and he is determined to bring and to prove this knowledge to the icy warrior. He can and will thaw the ice, discover the terrible secret that makes her run, and return her to the warmth of family, and the safety of his home. He will have her in his bed too, because that is what he knows. Whether she knows it, or accepts it or not, Reya will be his wife. He has recognized her as his mate, and he will go to the ends of the universe, or deep into the heart of the "Outlaw Sector" to find his lady love, bring her home safely, and make her his wife. Her sister-by-blood, Tenia has given him the best excuse to confront her, but Reya is once again proving herself hard to keep a hold of, and yet he is resolved to succeed. The icy green-eyed warrior will be his, he will prove to her that he is worthy of her love, and he will make sure she is returned to those who love her, or he will die trying.
Angela Verdenius does it again with her May release of The Soul of a Mercenary. She takes us back to the universe where the warrior women reside in peace, all except one tortured soul, Tenia's sister. Reya has returned to the life of a mercenary, and at the impending birth of her first child, Tenia sends her husband's best friend and partner to find her and bring her back. Maverk has a tender spot for Reya, and he is detemined not to let Tenia down. What he is assured of with his warrior wench is a bit of excitement, but that is only to be expected and welcomed. The path they travel will not be easy, because they are dealing with The Soul of a Mercenary, a very wounded soul. Maverk knows that things that come too easily may not be worth the effort. The adventures that they have are not totally expected, and the path of true love is not smooth, for Reya tries Maverk at every turn.
The Soul of a Mercenary is a look into the incredible life-altering events, and trials faced by Reya and Maverk, and the obstacles that stand in the way of their happiness. Angela has done a wonderful job again, and although this book is much darker than the first, the journey is truly one of the soul and its redemption. Angela takes us into the dark secret that Reya harbors, which has taken the sanity, and the very lives of many her companions. She shows us the effect of this fear of insanity, and how in self-loathing and disgust at her actions, Reya runs. She doesn't stop to think that others may not see things as she does. And most importantly, she projects her own feelings on to others, which serves to cripple her further. That is Maverk's most important chore, but first and formost, he has to discover and dispel the dread and the terrible and incapacitating fear that is harboured in The Soul of a Mercenary. Look for this must buy from Angela Verdenius now. It is a May release, and available now at Wings ePress.
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
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