PATHOS Series Bundle (3 eBooks)

ROWAN JUN, Page One Sample
(Please see the Rowan Jun main listing for the first full chapter!)

1: QUELLTRUTH
Little Ayli was born a slave, like every other human aboard the Slaveship QuellTruth. Rowan Jun gazed into Ayli’s big hazel eyes, saw them crinkle with her innocent smile. He pressed his lips into a tight line. She should never know the snap of a whip on her shoulders nor the humiliation of being inspected like livestock. Rowan ground his teeth, knowing that her treatment would be so much worse as a female. Rowan wanted Ayli to grow up free. She had a chance to do that, but only if he acted soon.

Rowan listened to the infant’s coo, watched her perfect face scrunch up right before she yawned. He held her in his arms so awkwardly, unfamiliar with much in the way of human touch. He stared at her tiny hand as it wound around his finger. How could this perfect thing ever be considered property?

“Out, now, slave,” ordered the Slaver. He gave a point-toothed smirk behind his sallow skin. “You’ve been outside your cell for too long. Imelda will be concerned that you may strain those dark eyes or bruise your perfect skin.” The towering figure laughed heartily, his yellow eyes closed tight, and his green face tilted back. His long black braids shaking with his movement.

Rowan bit his lips together by habit. Without a word, he stood and carefully placed the child in her mother’s waiting arms. The woman nodded an unspoken acknowledgment to him. The ghost of a smile alighted on her lips. The purple splotches beneath her elegantly upturned, dark eyes betrayed her exhaustion. Ayli was his mother’s seventh child in as many cycles, and only the second with his father as sire, making Ayli Rowan’s full sister. At that birth rate, though, Rowan knew her body would give out before her willpower ran its course.

He left the room, feeling his mother’s eyes on him, as little Ayli cried. Don’t give the Slaver reason to suspect you. One foot in front of the other. Step lively. Get where you’re going. Don’t dawdle. Don’t speak unless questioned. And never tell the full truth. He repeated his self-made instructions like a mantra in his mind. It helped him focus on what was to come, instead of the captivity before him.

SILVER EMPRESS, Page One Sample
(Please see the Silver Empress main listing for the first full chapter!)

1: GODSKIN
The midwife Arcani, a close friend and neighbor to the expecting Rascha, arrived moments after the pregnant woman’s first screams. Arcani carried her basket of child-pulling paraphernalia into the shadowy room, sensing the other woman’s deep fear and panic. Rascha’s pale face contorted as she suffered through another wave of agony, the bulge at her middle rippling with abnormal contractions. Arcani frowned. She pulled the woman’s loose gown up to her ribcage.

“Lights!” she commanded, and the wall globes flickered to life.

Rascha had perfect opal skin that shimmered white with glints of pink and green in the stark lighting — an Azelan racial trait specific to her noble bloodline. Across her distended stomach, dark grey splotches spread in an irregular pattern. Azelans don’t bruise grey. Their crystal blood left glowing marks as bruises until the light in the blood dissipated. She leaned closer. Bright particles within the discoloration caught the light in a different way. They shone like silver. She pressed her lips in a tight line, clearly worried.

“She’s been talking to me,” Rascha said, her voice weak and drained. Arcani turned to the woman, forcing a smile. “She’s learning very quickly! I think she’s not the only one, but…” Rascha’s voice trembled. “But the other doesn’t talk to me.”

“A twin child is a rare blessing, especially one with Power Traits.” Leaning to sit next to her friend, she placed a cool hand on her forehead. “I’m here now. We will do all we can to see both blessings spanked and crying.”

“You’re a treasure, Arcani.” Rascha’s lips trembled. “A treasure, and a godmother, please.” She followed her understated request with a pleading gaze into her friend’s eyes. Rascha’s slack face went tight again as another contraction wracked her slight frame.

“Well, sounds like the treasure is on its way.” Arcani’s wistful smile did little to comfort Rascha. The midwife worked hard to hide her jittery nerves, for once content that Rascha did not possess her bloodline’s signature telepathy. And I pray the pleading in her eyes isn’t another premonition! Arcani stood so she could face away from the younger woman and busied her wringing hands with her tools. Her predictions have been far too accurate of late.

SOLANA, Page One Sample
(Please see the Solana main listing for the first full chapter!)

1: STORYTIME
A tiny house glowed warmly in the autumn golden hour. From the outside, it looked simple. Plain. Just a slightly run down house in the country on barely a half-acre of land. The eaves freshly mended, siding replaced and awaiting paint, the old house got patched up by a hardworking man who young Solana had grown to love as a father figure. And love, paired with her sweet mother, made that little house a home.

Solana’s real father left four years ago, nearly half her short life of almost eight. When she tried hard, she could remember his face, his hazel eyes and his auburn hair and freckles. Mama kept one faded photograph in a frame for Solana, making Solana wonder if she actually remembered the man or merely memorized the picture. She’d stared at it for long hours, after all, studying his sun-squinted eyes, the serious tilt of his pressed lips, the wild arrangement of his longish red hair. Captured in a candid moment, like those old movie posters of James Dean, lacking only a cigarette and carefully styled hair.
Her mother glanced wistfully at the image every time she entered Solana’s room, often making subtle comments about how Solana had his same color eyes and wild spiky hair, or how she held her mouth the same way when she was thinking hard. Her tone seemed so distant and sad. Solana caught her mother wiping away a tear once, and felt from her a sorrow she hadn’t noticed before. Then Solana hid her father’s picture in her sock drawer, face down under all the socks, so he couldn’t make her mommy cry anymore.

His voice eluded her still. The timbre echoed in her head now and then, a distant echo or a ghostly laugh. Frustrated, though try as she might, she couldn’t hear the words or focus enough to clear up the sound in her mind. Being sad or angry for something outside your control doesn’t befit blessed little girls, her mother often said with a telling smile that didn’t rise to her eyes. Leave the sadness for grownups and just be happy. So this little girl pushed down the sadness she felt, and let go the frustration, to be strong for her mother. A hollow, fuzzy sort of confusion remained.

THE PATHOS SERIES:

Tamara Henson's ever-expanding Pathos universe spans space and dimensions beyond the waking world to bring fresh life to mythologies, folklore, and legends, spinning epic original locations and memorable, multi-dimensional characters in rich detail with her playful dialogue and direct writing style.

Join Rowan Jun in his path toward redemption from slave to warrior. Walk the path of Briescha, a born diplomat so dedicated to her sister that she would shatter the cosmos to keep her safe.

Follow Solana into the wilderness as she escapes those who seek to harm her, and follows the voice of the mysterious Taiyo of the Flames.

Let Ariana guide you through her new life in the Mansion in the Mountain, where the mystery of her family is finally revealed, and her true trial begins. 

Tread the path toward life and redemption, where suffering and pain hold the promise of a brighter, more joyful future.

The Pathos Series!

Seek out all these books in the Pathos Series:

The Pathos of Rowan Jun (Pathos, Volume 1)

Silver Empress (Pathos, Volume 2)

Solana: A Pathos Sidetrack (Companion Novella)

Ariana: A Pathos Sidetrack (Companion Novella)