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  The prince got up as well. “Wait.” He ran a hand through his hair. “You must realize that I loved your mother. I was forced to marry, to produce heirs. It’s my duty. But I’ve never cared about anyone the way I cared about Cecily. And I’ve lost her forever, but you’re all there is left of her, and I beg you not to walk away from me, please.”

  “You’re the Tramet heir,” said Tramet. “I have no children. You’re all there is. Please.”

  Ariana sat back down.

  Keirth looked at her. “Ariana?”

  “Keirth, he’s obviously your father. You look just like him. And the Tramet title is going to die with the duke without anyone to inherit it. We can’t simply leave like we thought we could,” she said.

  “But this isn’t what you want,” he said. “This isn’t what we want. And besides, I’m a convicted murderer.”

  “Oh,” said the prince, “considering the evidence that Nigel has compiled, I don’t think that will be an issue for much longer.”

  “We agreed,” said Keirth, staring into her eyes, “we didn’t want to be tied down. We wanted to be free, to go from place to place.”

  “Nothing’s saying you can’t do that if you assume the title,” said Tramet.

  “I couldn’t take care of Cecily,” said the prince. “You must let me at least take care of her child.”

  Keirth sighed heavily. He sat back down next to Ariana.

  She lifted her chin. “The sector destroyed Cecily. If we stay, we’ll want to use our position to help women like her.”

  The prince caught Ariana’s gaze with his own. He nodded slowly. “Yes, absolutely. You couldn’t be more right.”

  Epilogue

  One year later...

  Ariana poked her head into the bridge of the ship. “We getting off the ground soon?”

  Keirth looked up from the console. “Yeah, as soon as my father stops sending me messages trying to convince us to take servants along. He doesn’t believe that we can rehydrate food ourselves.”

  Ariana plopped into the seat next to him. “But we never take servants.”

  “And yet,” said Keirth.

  Such were the trials of being the next Duke of Tramet and the son of the prince, even if he wasn’t legitimately recognized by the queen as an heir to the crown of the sector. Being the Tramet heir was responsibility enough.

  But the prince had been as good as his word, doing what he could to help the plight of women in the sector. He’d set up a trust for the families of Risciter’s victims. It seemed that the dead women on Hallon were the tip of the iceberg. Risciter had traveled far and wide, leaving bodies in his wake. Ariana and Keirth were the executors of the trust, and they across the galaxy, finding families and giving them what help they could.

  When they weren’t hunting down the victims’ families, they spent their time working on ways to keep prostitutes safer, lobbying for quicker responses by police, helping brothels get the funding to hire guards and install security systems.

  And they also traveled to numerous speaking engagements throughout the galaxy, appearing on panels and giving talks about the role of women in the sector and the way that current social rules hurt them. When Keirth told the story of his mother, there was never a dry eye in the place.

  With the support of the prince, things were changing. It wasn’t happening overnight, but progress was being made. From Ariana’s perspective, it was a long time coming.

  They were moving most of the time, which was the important thing. Ariana didn’t know if she could handle staying in one place for long.

  But she was eager to get moving on this trip, because it wasn’t business but instead a much needed social trip to visit Gordic and Winda, who’d just had their first baby. Ariana had an entire room of the ship filled up with baby gifts. She couldn’t wait to see them.

  “He seems to have gotten the message,” said Keirth, grinning over at Ariana. “At least he hasn’t sent me anything in the last few minutes.”

  “Quick,” she said. “Get moving before he does.”

  Keirth began to press keys on his console. “Strap in, sweetheart. We’re taking off.”

  “Finally,” she said, glorying in the whirs and moans the ship made as it left the ground. She watched on the visual as the world slipped away, as they burst through the clouds, through the blue sky, as it darkened around them and the stars appeared. This was home. And Keirth was here, so everything was perfect.

  Keirth punched at the console again. “We’re making the jump to hyperspace,” he told her.

  She held her breath as the ship accelerated and watched as everything stretched out in front of her before it exploded into streaming lights.

  Keirth switched off the visual.

  “I like hyperspace,” she pouted.

  “Gives me a headache,” Keirth muttered. He unstrapped and got out of his chair. “Besides, I have better ideas for how we should spend our time besides staring at the visual the whole trip.”

  Ariana unstrapped herself, arching an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

  He pulled her against his hard chest, pressing his lips on her neck.

  She sighed as he kissed his way up to her ear.

  His whisper was ragged. “I am going to make you come so many times, you won’t be able to move by the time we get to the Pyrneth system.”

  She laughed. “You better, boy. You’ve got a lot to make up for.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Are you ever going to let that go, sweetheart? It was one time. One time. You didn’t have an orgasm one time. The first time, may I add.”

  She grabbed him by his belt and tugged him out of the bridge.”We’ll see, won’t we? Maybe I will let it go. It all depends on what you do for me now.”

  With a growl, he lifted her in his arms and carried her back through the ship. She giggled as he threw her down on the bed and held her arms up for him. “I love you Keirth Transman.”

  “I love you,” he said.

  Outside, their ship tunneled through hyperspace, and swirls of bright light surrounded them, cradling them. They were moving so fast, ripping through the stars. Together.

  Visit my website, join my email list, and get a FREE copy of The Toil and Trouble Trilogy, Book One.

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  V. J. Chambers is...

  ...dark and gritty...

  The Jason and Azazel Trilogy

  What if the anti-christ and the messiah fell in love? What if you couldn't tell who was the anti-christ and who was the messiah? And what if they were both just high school seniors who couldn't figure out their sex lives, let alone the fate of the world?

  A story that travels from the backwoods of West Virginia to the streets of Rome, that tackles questions about morality, fate, and the nature of good and evil, Jason and Azazel will shake you up.

  Breathless

  Trembling

  Tortured

  Omnibus Bundle

  The Jason and Azazel Apocalypse Trilogy

  They thought they'd escaped their destiny, and that they could live normally. But as the modern world comes crashing down around them, it seems that every horrible thing predicted about them is coming true.

  And they're not getting along very well anymore either.

  The Stillness in the Air

  Between the Heaves of Storm

  That Last Onset

  Omnibus Bundle

  The Toil and Trouble Trilogy

  Book One

  Book Two

  Loyalty. Family. Trust.

  Olivia Calabrese has valued nothing more strongly since her mob boss father was arrested and her mother was killed in the cross fire. Even though her family sells illegal magical charms that have the nasty side effect of turning some wearers into berserkers—rage-filled monsters—she sees betrayal as a far worse offense than harming people. To prove her loyalty, she dreams of succeeding her father as head of the mob family.

  When her uncle, the current boss, is shot by a rival gang, she just might get he
r chance.

  But her cousin, her only competition, whispers something to her that throws her off track. He says her mother ratted the family out to the police. He says that her mother's death wasn't an accident, but a hit ordered by her father.

  Her entire worldview called into question, Olivia sets about hunting down the truth about her parents. And to complicate matters, she seems to be falling for a boy who's turning into a berserker—from her own family's charms.

  As her set of values shatters around her, Olivia must choose between staying loyal to her family or fighting against them.

  Ratcatcher

  They are unwanted. Youths that stitch together bits of ragged lace to sell in parking lots and huddle in vans, snorting away the cold in snowy lines. They follow the rock band The Wrenching from show to show.

  No one notices when they disappear into the darkness.

  No one except The Wrenching's lead singer, Shane Adams, who just wants his fans to go home. He thinks they're in danger. "I play," he says. "They follow. They die."

  This macabre thriller takes its cues from the Pied Piper folk tale, also known as "The Ratcatcher of Hamelin."

  Death Girl

  They call Maureen Death Girl because she's obsessed with mass murderers. That is, when anyone in her high school speaks to her at all, which isn't often.

  A teenage outcast, Maureen thinks she'll graduate high school before going on a date or being kissed. But in the first month of senior year, she attracts the attention of both enigmatic Jared, whose idea of fun is burning down old shoe factories, and distant Trevor, who dreams of violence and blood.

  Jared has a plan. Trevor has a secret. And Maureen is about to be twisted up into a bleak world of desire, destruction, and sadistic glee.

  Brighter

  Ramona Brinks is barely surviving her post-college angst, struggling to balance her partying with her job and her love life. She wants to move out and grow up. She doesn't want to worry about the fact she's seen a dead girl walking around in Elston or that she's seen pictures indicating certain people in town haven't aged in 60 years. She doesn't want to be bothered by nagging evidence that something ancient and evil is at work in town. But when someone locks her in a basement because she's asking too many questions, she can't help but begin searching for answers in earnest.

  As Ramona digs deeper, she begins to uncover a world underneath the seemingly quiet small town's veneer. A realm of violent deaths and vengeful creatures, protecting a source of ancient power. Beneath the surface of her twentysomething culture--kids playing at being adults, existing on cigarettes, bars, and caffeine--something far more sinister is at work. And whatever it is, it doesn't seem to want Ramona to leave.

  ...compelling...

  Invoke

  Reese and Wyn, two psychic students at a special college, never intended to fall in love with each other. But an exercise in the spirit realm has gone wrong, and now malicious spirits have taken over their bodies, intent on recreating the doomed love of Guinevere and Lancelot.

  Wyn and Reese aren't the only students affected. It seems everyone in the school has fallen under the influence of ancient spirits. The headmistress, behaving like Morgan le Fay, makes advances towards Wyn's boyfriend, who's dreaming about pulling a sword out of a stone. Another student pines over Reese, a la "The Lady of Shallot." But when these spirit games turn deadly, Reese and Wyn realize that unwanted romantic entanglements are the least of their problems.

  The full power of the spirits will be unlocked if three people die. One already has. Reese and Wyn have to stop the spirits from killing anyone else, while resisting their growing desire for each other, or Lancelot and Guinevere will take over their bodies forever.

  Faerie Changeling

  Things started going wrong for Russ Knight last year. He found out his girlfriend was cheating on him when she gave birth at the junior prom and left the baby to die in a trashcan. Russ didn't even know she was pregnant. Hell, he thought they were saving themselves for each other.

  Now, locked in her padded cell, his girlfriend is screaming that she was just trying to get the faeries to give her baby back. Russ doesn't buy it. But to shut her up, Russ tries a trick the old legends say will work, and the baby starts swearing and begging to be taken back to Faerie. He's got to accept the truth: the kid he's raising is a faerie changeling.

  The faeries are going to sacrifice the real baby at the Equinox if Russ can't get them to switch again. But the only person who can get the baby back is a biological parent, and Russ' girlfriend certainly can’t help. To save an innocent life, Russ will face ancient faeries with razor-like teeth, wrestle snarling skeleton dogs, and, maybe worst of all, track down every guy his girlfriend was sleeping with last year in the hopes of finding the baby's real father.

  And apparently, the father could be half his senior class.

  ...humorous in a twisted way...

  Little Sister: A Vampire Novella

  Ever since Jane Cassidy's big brother was killed in a car accident six months ago, she's been taking solace in watching cheesy vampire movies and yelling at the characters on the screen when they do stupid things. She can't control the tragedy in her own life, but in the movies, the characters can find ways out of the grip of death.

  A chance meeting with Bailey Westfield, her brother's best friend and her childhood crush, catapults her out of her cocoon of grieving. Bailey's kiss makes Jane feel tugged under a rushing waterfall of cold, sweet darkness. She only sees him at night, and she longs to feel his icy fingers trace the outline of her jaw.

  Jane doesn't realize that she's been (literally) sucked into the plot of a vampire movie. And she's not so snarky when there are teeth in her own neck.

  Mischief

  Iris Tanner grew up watching the PSAs. She knew it was a bad idea to take pixie dust. She knew there was a chance she'd get bad stuff—black pixie dust, the kind of drug that doesn't give nifty, magical hallucinations. The kind of drug that has the nasty side effect of turning people into ghouls. She should have just said no.

  Instead, she's raiding morgues for food. Her band abandoned her, and she bitterly has to watch them climb the Billboard charts without her.

  No one even talks to her except the tall, dark stalker/stranger that's been following her around. That guy might be hot, but he's mentally unhinged. He thinks the metal band Mischief is actually made of disguised pixies, and they want to feed their audience to an ancient monster.

  On the off chance he's right, Iris decides to help him. After all, saving the world is at least as good as a hit record. Right?

  Mischief is a 1980s glam metal urban fantasy. With pixies.

  V. J. Chambers is not for the faint of heart.