A Stolen Heart by Kayelle Allen
An abandoned half-human child.
An immortal warrior whose villainous past keeps him in hiding.
Two monsters in need of a family.
A Stolen Heart transports science fiction fans to the fantastic Tarthian Empire in the distant future; a wealthy but deliciously seedy corner of the galaxy. Here, powerful immortals comingle with genetically-enhanced humans and animals, aliens and androids, and secret societies are commonplace.
After rescuing a half-alien / half-human child who’s running for his life on the planet Kelthia, a glorified space pirate turned entrepreneur named Luc Saint-Cyr stumbles onto a conspiracy at the highest levels of the powerful Thieves’ Guild.
Complicating matters, the king–Luc’s immortal ex–might be involved.
As if that’s not enough, an unseen enemy is undoing every good thing Luc accomplishes.
But, when it comes time to give up the child to a family who can care for him, how will Luc bear to part with the adorable little boy who has stolen his heart?
Read an Excerpt from A Stolen Heart
“You may.” Luc wiped the boy’s mouth. “In this house, no one will take away your food. Not ever.” He had never disciplined his Deshai by denying them meals. How could anyone do such a thing to a child?
When imprisoned, Pietas had been chained in the dark and starved for over a year. If Luc couldn’t bear the thought of his king going hungry, how could he tolerate it for a boy?
Once Senthys finished his apple, he pointed to a small bowl. “What’s that?”
Luc tipped it toward himself. “Raisins.”
The boy wrinkled up his nose. “They look scary.”
“Raisins?” He tilted the bowl again. How did one convince a child raisins weren’t scary? How had he convinced recruits to try things they balked at? Familiarity. He’d made them carry unloaded weapons for days before training them on the devices. Luc picked one up. “Smell.” He pulled his hand back before the boy could.
Senthys blinked and looked up at him.
“Remember,” Luc told him. “Smell. Don’t eat it yet.”
“Okay.” As Luc held it for him, Senthys leaned closer, sniffing. “It’s sweet.”
“That’s because there’s magic inside them.”
The boy’s eyes widened. “There is? Can I see the magic?”
Stifling a smile, Luc chose one and offered it. “You try. Squeeze it. Like this.” He pressed it between first finger and thumb.
Senthys pressed, frowning in concentration. “Ew! Brown stuff came out.” He dropped it and wiped that hand on his shirt.
“The squishy part is the magic coming out.”
“It is?” Senthys picked the raisin back up, peering at it.
Now came the part Luc liked. Showing recruits the benefits and seeing them embrace the challenge. “Raisins give you magic energy to run and hit a ball. They help you play hide and seek.”
“Can they help me get magic coins out of my hair?”
“Hmm.” The sleight of hand had been Luc’s attempt to distract him from crying. “If you eat them long enough and study how to do it.”
“Can I have a raisin?”
“I don’t know.” Luc pretended to consider it. “You’d have to eat the whole bowl to get enough magic. I don’t know if you can eat that many.”
“Oh, I can!” Senthys clapped, bouncing in his seat. “I can eat them!”
“I squished this one, so I’ll eat it. Okay with you?” Luc held it up to his mouth.
Senthys opened his.
“You want it?” Luc offered it.
The boy nodded.
“Okay, here we go.” Using slow motions, Luc reached toward him as Senthys leaned forward. At the last second, Luc yanked it back and popped the raisin in his own mouth. He opened his eyes wide, teasing the boy. “Mine.”
With a peal of laughter, Senthys grabbed a raisin and offered it to Luc, but yanked it back and made the same face.
Luc clacked his teeth together, pretending to bite the air.
Senthys stuck the raisin in his own mouth and threw out his arms toward Luc.
When Luc hugged him, the boy kissed his cheek and put his head on Luc’s shoulder. “I love you, Sen’dai.”
He hugged the boy tight. How could vows be right if they forced him to say good-bye?
Senthys lifted his head. “Why are you sad?”
Luc brushed back the boy’s hair. “Because I never want you to grow up. I want you to stay little like you are right now, forever.”
Senthys wrinkled his nose. “That’s silly.”
He tapped the boy on the nose. “It is indeed.”
A Stolen Heart, sci fi from Kayelle Allen
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Kayelle Allen writes Sci Fi with misbehaving robots, mythic heroes, role playing immortal gamers, and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories. She’s also a US Navy veteran and has been married so long she’s tenured.
deborahjay 
Sounds great, Debby, and I love Kayell’s bio, too. Making note of this one! 🙂
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Fab, I really am enjoying this one. It took me a couple of chapters to get settled in, but when there is a lot of world building to do, that’s no surprise. Then it is drawing me along, now up to 75% and heading for the climax!
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Thank you so much! 🙂 I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying the story. Once I release the final, it’ll have an additional 30 pages of bonus material. If you review it, let me know so I can send you the bonus!
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A review will definitely be along soon 😀
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That’s so cool. I appreciate it, Deborah. 🙂 Thank you!
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This sounds as good as you describe, Deborah. I love the half-human child characteristic.
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I notice that the sub title refers to the child’s surname and to another brother, so I will be waiting keenly to read more books in the forthcoming series.
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There are three other books in this series already out. Bro, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, and For Women Only. In Bro, the boy meets his older half-brother. The other two books are the romance where each finds his lady. They are PG13 romances, without explicit content. I’m planning at least one more in this series, and possibly more than that. Plus I’m working on a romance for Luc which will branch off into another series. I write within a huge story world. I have plenty of stories to tell.
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Ooh, excellent!
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Ooh, sounds a great read Deb. Thanks for introducing us to Kayelle and her book. Hugs xx
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Cheers, I’m nearly finished now and really enjoying it.
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Thank you! I’m expecting the final edits this weekend. Can’t wait to get this baby out into the world. 😀
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Aha! I wondered if it had had a final proofreading, as I found the odd missing word and an unfinished sentence.
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Yes, I’m afraid so. 🙂 I will be happy to send you the final version. My completed book will come with a bonus 30+ page illustrated book about the background and the characters. Can’t wait to share it.
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Sounds really good, Deborah. Thanks for sharing and good luck to Kayelle with the new book. 🙂
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Another series to add to the TBR list!
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Ha. Yes.
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If I could have a wish granted by a genie I’d want to be able to produce books fast enough to keep up with how fast readers motor through them. But my keyboard would probably catch on fire. lol I promise to keep telling stories. You keep adding them to that list. ❤
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I’m working on a series that’s taking a full two years. Yes, this is such slow careful work! Happy Writing. 🙂
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Agreed! Especially if you’re a perfectionist like me. Hard to let that baby out there…
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Oh, I know that feeling! I’ve finally accepted that I’m never going to be a fast writer, I can only go at the speed I can go at!
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Hear, hear. 🙂 If anything, I’m spending a little more time plotting these days. I’m a “plotzer” — I plot and figure out where I want to go, and then my characters take over and go where they want to go anyway. But I do insist on a complete story before my characters commit their heist. I’m done writing for days only to toss out work that was good but didn’t advance the story. Since I did that, I’ve had more published work and less in my WIP file. But I wouldn’t mind a magic bullet for getting that done faster. So far, the only thing I’ve found is getting more sleep. Sounds crazy, but if I’m well rested, I produce more. Am I the only author who hadn’t figured this out? lol Maybe. Better late than never. Has been a lot of fun chatting with you the last couple of days 🙂
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I love getting to know other authors – we are all in this together!
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[…] took part in the blog tour for this book a couple of weeks ago, and today it arrives in the world for all to […]
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