It’s the Final Uncommon Rider Snippet!

It’s the final countdown and tomorrow is the BIG day! Woot Woot! Are you as excited as I am about finding out what’s next for The Uncommon Rider?

Chapter Seven

“How did he send this, by carrier pigeon?” Liv asked, flipping the envelope over, looking for a stamp.

“I think you’re focusing on the wrong thing,” Plato said astutely.

She lifted an eyebrow at the lynx. “You’re right, I think he actually wrote the letter by hand. Do you know how to do that? I’m not sure I can even hold a pen.”

Plato rolled his eyes at her. “Is that really your takeaway after receiving and reading a correspondence from the leader of the Dragon Elite?”

“Well, he already popped into my kitchen, half scaring me to death while I was in my pajamas, making nachos,” Liv stated, remembering when she first met Hiker Wallace. He had a clue that she had a dragon rider, or future rider, around her. Without having her permission and apparently breaking through all her wards, he showed up in her kitchen. It wasn’t the best first meeting, but she thought it went mostly okay.

“And what did you tell him then?” the lynx asked, as if he didn’t already know the answer.

“Well,” Liv began, drawing out the word, “I would have told him about the dragon egg and Sophia then, but for one he hadn’t hatched yet. And secondly, Hiker kept referring to this new rider as a ‘him’ so I was thinking maybe he was asking about a different new dragon rider who wasn’t my little sister.”

“Liv,” Plato said, conviction in his tone.

She threw up her hands. “What? He said, ‘If you learn of the presence of a rider, then I want to know about him.’ And since I hadn’t learned about this ‘him’ I didn’t think that Mr. Hiker needed to know anything.”

“Liv,” Plato said again, a challenging quality to his voice.

Liv sighed. She knew Sophia was the first female dragon rider in history. Hiker wasn’t prepared for this. Sadly, the poor Viking was going to be very, very confused for many reasons. Whatever magic had told him about Sophia was absolutely flawed thanks to spells that Liv had put into place to protect her little sister. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Hiker to know about Sophia and her egg early on, but rather she didn’t want him to know until she was ready. And so, Hiker had probably gotten a lot of false readings up until this point.

On top of learning that he didn’t know everything about this new rider and dragon, due to Liv’s tampering, he was going to find out that this person was a girl. It probably wasn’t even an option in his head. But that shouldn’t be the reason that Liv stopped this amazing thing from happening for her sister. “Fine. Fine. Sophia’s egg has hatched. I knew this was coming. But before, I was trying to delay it. She’s already lost her childhood and now she’s going to have to go off to this strange place where I can’t even accompany her. Sue me for trying to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.”

“You do know that I was a lawyer in a past life,” Plato said casually.

“Of course you were,” she said, not doubting this at all. The lynx also did day trading and wrote novels while she slept, apparently.

“And I get that you don’t want her to leave, but—”

“I can’t hold onto her forever,” Liv interrupted. “I get that. But now this Viking from another century demands that my little sister and Beauregard come to his headquarters permanently.”

“I think she named her dragon <redacted>,” Plato said, hiding a smile.

Liv laughed, remembering when she met the dragon earlier that day. He was no doubt the most beautiful creature she’d ever seen. <Redacted> had an opportunity to get to know Liv during his long stint living in his shell in her house where he could hear all the jokes she made. Then, he didn’t like being called random names. Out of the shell, he was even more opposed to the idea. Sophia told her that she should be glad that he didn’t have fire yet.

“So what are you going to do?” Plato asked, eyeing the letter in her hand.

“Well, I don’t have a pen, so I guess I’m screwed,” she stated with defeat. “There’s no way I can return his message. I guess I’ll just to quit my job as a Warrior for the House of Fourteen, sell all my possessions and move Sophia and Burt to a remote island where I use the full extent of my magical powers to shield them from the Dragon Elite.”

“Or…”

Liv gave the feline an annoyed expression. “Or, I guess I can write back Mr. Penmanship and tell my lovely, baby sister that she has to go to a secret boarding school which I know zero about and can’t visit. Then I’ll promptly take up drinking. How early is too early to start shots of whiskey in the morning?”

“Or…” Plato challenged again.

Although she was pretending, this hurt. Liv had lost so much. Her parents. Her older sister and brother. Her combat instructor. Many friends. And now, even though she wasn’t losing Sophia, it felt like it. “Or…I’ll do the right thing, but only because you’re making me.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” he said matter-of-factly.

Liv twirled her finger through the air, magically making a new piece of parchment appear filled with flowery writing. She read over it once before nodding. “Okay, that will do.”

“Are you sure about that?” Plato challenged.

Liv cut her eyes at him. “Yes, it will do, cat. Shush your face.”

“But you—”

“I believe that I said, shush it!” Liv snapped her fingers, making the letter disappear, sending it using the directions Hiker had given her.

“You realize that you’re complicating things,” Plato said, lowering his chin.

Liv shrugged. “Am I? Or am I giving my little sister the chance she needs? First impressions are everything, after all.”

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Hehehe, I can’t wait to see how Hiker reacts when he finally meets Sophia and her dragon! And what the heck? Why did they redact the dragon’s real name? Grrrrr…..

Friday, November 8th is release day! Grab your copy of The Uncommon Rider, now!

The Uncommon Rider 7th Snippet is here!

The date is quickly approaching! The Uncommon Rider is almost here! To whet your appetite, we have the 7th snippet here just for you!

Chapter Six

It had been a hard day for Liv Beaufont. She hadn’t slept in…well, the last time hadn’t been that day. And maybe the one before that. She’d lost track as she trudged to her apartment, intent on curling up in her bed and snoozing for days.

She sighed. Who was she kidding?

She’d get maybe four to five hours before some emergency awoke her. That was fine. The House of Fourteen was robust, full of members voting on issues that pertained to the magical world, that made it a better place. Surprisingly, she loved her demanding job.

Mortals had recently been awoken to the presence of magic, and seven had joined the council, presiding over important matters.

Still, Liv wondered, when given the chance for such luxuries, who took care of the mortal world? The House of Fourteen had the job of enforcing laws for the magical races, ensuring that no one abused their powers. Before magic was visible to mortals, she’d always suspected that the police and firefighters and whatnot took care of their affairs. But now… things, well, they were a bit more complex.

She shook her head, both because of exhaustion and confusion.

“Things are a lot more complex,” she said as she rounded the corner to her apartment.

“You’re talking to yourself… yet again,” Plato, the small black and white cat beside her said. Well, he wasn’t really a cat at all. In the magical world, the mysterious and mischievous creature was known as a lynx and not much was known about them at all.

“I’m not either,” she said, shaking her head again. “I’m simply answering myself.”

“That makes it sound worse,” he stated.

“Well, that’s what happens when I’m not allowed to sleep.” Liv shrugged, pushing the black hood of her cape off her head, looking forward to shrugging off the garment and getting into some pajamas.

“So, you should know… before you go up…” Plato trailed away, stopping at the base of the stairs.

Liv turned, already rolling her eyes at the lynx. “What?”

“Well, you have mail.”

She tilted her head to the side. “How do you know that?” Waving off the question, she shook her head, used to his mysterious ways of knowing things. “Never mind. And if I do then it’s just spam from some mortal business.”

“It isn’t actually,” he said coyly.

Liv lowered her chin. “So you’re telling me that someone who isn’t mortal has put mail in my postbox even though none of the magical creatures I know use such a method? Why?”

He pretended to watch traffic on the street behind her. “Beats me.”

“Beats you, eh?” she asked. “Are you sure that you’re not just playing games with me so you can get upstairs first, taking the best spot in the bed?”

He gave her an incredulous expression. “Would I really do that?”

She stuck her hands on her hips. “Every chance you get.”

“But seriously, you’ve got mail.”

Liv strode for the post box she’d hardly ever checked. “Why wouldn’t this magical person just send me a message to my phone or I don’t know, some other way that is way more efficient?”

“You’ll find out soon,” he said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

“Seriously, Plato, if you know something, you can just tell me.”

“I can, but it’s better this way.”

She shook her head. “For you maybe.”

Liv opened the post box, a bit nervous about what could be residing inside the small compartment. Tentatively, she retrieved a thick envelope, sealed with wax and embossed with a seal of a capital “E”. On the front, in old English cursive was her name: Warrior Liv Beaufont.

“Who writes letters anymore?” she asked, studying the envelope.

“People,” Plato answered, full well knowing he was being less than helpful.

Shaking her head at the lynx, Liv opened the correspondence, unprepared for its contents.

It would change everything. And although she’d known that it was inevitably coming, she wasn’t completely ready for it.

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Yeah, Liv’s in this series, too! Woot Woot! The countdown for The Uncommon Rider has begun! Only 3 days left! You can pre-order this exciting tale now, and it will be waiting for you when you wake up on Friday, November 8th!