She’d seen the fate of Austerlitz and still mounted a direct attack. The condemned were so unworthy, even their deaths wouldn’t be watched.įor this bold woman who’d attacked me, I felt a strange desire to watch her float away. It was a gesture of deliberate disrespect. When criminals were vented to space for execution, the onlookers were supposed to turn their backs and look away.

The blast doors sealed closed behind her-clearly some automated timer she’d set up in advance-and I met her eyes in the split second before the door to space popped open behind her and vented her into the darkness. I tore from her grip and batted her away, knocking her into the air-lock shaft. She gave away her intentions with the shout of, “Abomination!” just before she tried to pull me into the air lock with her. This one had been a fanatical junior vicar. He screamed out as he tried to launch himself back to his feet-so I delivered a kick to his head that broke his skull open.ĭays passed before the next attempt. I sidestepped him and hooked his ankle in mine to flip his legs out from under him. “Stop this at once,” I told him, dodging his next slash, his next. It seemed wise to be diplomatic, so I gave him a chance. I’d been bemused enough to tolerate his clumsy slashes for a few moments. There’d been the young Grande Austerlitz, who tried to stab me in a surprise attack. This was hardly the first attempt on my life in the harried days since Tyrus’s coronation. I glanced around the crowded presence chamber, hoping to spot the doomed idiot who thought to poison a Diabolic. But if proving her humanity means that she and Tyrus must do inhuman things, is the fight worth the cost of winning it? Excerpt

She will have to prove the humanity that she’s found inside herself to the whole Empire-or she and Tyrus may lose more than just the throne. But she cannot protect him by being the killing machine she once was. He is the love of her life, and they are partners in this new beginning. The ruling class, the Grandiloquy, has held control over planets and systems for centuries-and they are plotting to stop this teenage Emperor and Nemesis, who is considered nothing more than a creature and certainly not worthy of being Empress. One where creatures like Nemesis will be given worth and recognition, where science and information can be shared with everyone and not just the elite.īut having power isn’t the same thing as keeping it, and change isn’t always welcome. Tyrus has ascended to the throne with Nemesis by his side and now they can find a new way forward-one where they don’t have to hide or scheme or kill. Kincaid’s New York Times bestselling novel, The Diabolic, which called “the perfect kind of high-pressure adventure.”

The empress by sj kincaid