CHANGE OF MOMENTUM comes out in exactly two months. To celebrate the arrival of the proof copies I thought it would be fun to share a snippet from the book.
This scene is set in the early chapters. Rowena, who is now working as a Fleet/Jhandarmi liaison has been asked to identify a murder weapon at the city morgue. Since her usual uniform is designed to be functional, and not reassure recently bereaved families, she raids the Starguard’s communal closet with input from Hollis Silar.
Hollis and Rowena were both introduced in BODIES IN MOTION, and while the intervening year between the end of that book and the start of this one hasn’t made them friends they are less likely to kill each other on sight. It could still happen though…
CHANGE OF MOMENTUM hits the shelves March 14th so be sure to pre-order your copy today!
Rowena turned, arms crossed, eyes cold as the black between stars. “I’m going to the Tarrin morgue and need a shield pass.”
“Depositing or picking up?” Hollis joked, trying to defuse the situation…
.
.
.
“It looks good. Your boots work, but I think we have some office shoes on the far wall.” He looked across the room, implant pulling data from the telekyen tags, until he found what he wanted. “Here. Black, with a slight heel. You can run in them and they’ll give a little height.”
Rowena’s eyes widened at the perceived insult. “Are you saying I’m too short to examine a corpse?”
“They’re weighted so you can kick in someone’s head easily, and the heels give you a better reach.” He grinned.
Her mouth opened with an objection then snapped shut, teeth snapping together as her jaw clenched. :You’re ridiculous.:
“True. But they’ll fit. So…”
Rowena took the boots and put them on. “How do I look?”
Hair pinned up, the suit with the gold, sleeve-less blouse on… She looked devastating. Dangerous. A dark goddess incarnate come to destroy the last remnants of humanity.
If she were anyone else, even another Lee, and he would have tried for more than a look. But, Rowena?
“Silar? Did you die?”
“No, no… I’m trying to find a suitable response.” He crossed his arms and shook his head.
“It’s not that bad,” she huffed, turning to look at herself from all angles. “It’s not very practical, but I look like a grounder.”
He measured her reach and took two steps back. “You look gorgeous.”
Rowena snapped him an angry glare filled with confusion.
Hollis held up his hands to placate her. “Please remember that the grounders don’t know you, they don’t know your reputation, and one of them might try to approach you and flirt.”
She shrugged. “So? People have flirted with me before.”
“How many had broken arms after?”
“That’s unfair!”
“All I’m saying is, please don’t add to the morgue’s collection of corpses while you’re gone.” He had to tease her, had to make it playful, because if Rowena realized how beautiful she was she’d run and hide again. The fleet needed her to crawl out of her shell. Needed her to be the confident, competent, officer she’d been during the war. She was the strongest Warmonger still alive, and, although she didn’t see it, many people in the fleet still looked to her for guidance. If Rowena could make peace with the fleet, the civil war that had broken them and brought them to die on this planet would finally end.
“Don’t break any treaties. Don’t break any arms. Got it.” She looked up at him. “I’ve done the training, you know. I might step into the occasional bar brawl, but I can control my temper.”
He narrowed his eyes all thoughts of coaxing her back into fleet politics forgotten. “Occasional bar brawl? In the last month the guardians had to break up seventeen ‘little brawls’ you were in. You tried to take out my knee cap in one of them.”
“You were off duty.”
“Seventeen, Lee. Seventeen!”
“I didn’t start them. Not unless you think breathing in public is enough to start a fight.” She crossed her arms, the metallic shirt rippling interestingly.
In that outfit, breathing could start a fight.
“Besides,” Rowena said, “that’s here with the fleet, not out there with the grounders. I know, when I step outside Enclave, I represent the Lee crew and the fleet.”
Hollis looked her over once more. Forget flirting, someone was going to fall in love if she went out like that. “I think you need to change. Maybe the dock worker uniform?”