Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)

I was excited to do a cover reveal this week for my next paranormal romance, set in ancient Egypt. I hadn’t written one in quite a while and it was fun to dive back into my version of 1550 BCE! (I also have a new scifi romance coming in November – more on that next week.)

Captain Khian and his men are in front of Pharaoh, to receive honors for heroism. Lady Tuya is in the audience and this is her POV. The excerpt (edited for punctuation to fit our rules):

Pharaoh leaned forward to speak to the solider, “My general tells me your men held off the enemy at the Meribe Pass long enough for him to bring up reinforcements and turn the tide of battle – well done.” He took the gold of valor, a heavy necklace of golden flies, from the scribe and looped it over the captain’s neck.

“It was either dig in and fight or jump off the cliffs at our back, Great One.” This Khian’s voice was deep, his smile engaging, “I didn’t see much choice in the moment, frankly. So we made a wall of our shields and dared the Hyksos to overrun us.”

Tuya held her fan still, waiting to see how the ruler would react to being addressed. Normally, the recipients of honors merely saluted and murmured their brief, awed thanks.

But Pharaoh was a former military man and in a good mood. He laughed, “Sometimes the best strategy is just to survive and fight like hell, captain, I quite agree.”

Here’s the story:

Tuya, a high ranking lady-in-waiting at Pharaoh’s court, lives a life of luxury, pageantry and boredom. Khian, a brave and honorable officer from the provinces temporarily re-assigned to Thebes, catches her eye at a gold of valor ceremony. As the pair are thrown together by circumstances, she finds herself unaccountably attracted to this man so unlike the haughty nobles she’s used to. But a life with Khian would mean leaving the court and giving up all that she’s worked so hard to attain. As she goes about her duties, Tuya struggles with her heart’s desires. 

When Tuya is lured into a dangerous part of Thebes by her disgraced half-brother and kidnapped by unknown enemies of Egypt, Khian becomes her only hope. Pharaoh assigns him to bring the lady home. 

Aided by the gods, Khian races into the desert on the trail of the elusive kidnappers, hoping to find Tuya before it’s too late. Neither of them has any idea of the dark forces arrayed against them, nor the obstacles to be faced. An ancient evil from the long gone past wants to claim Tuya for its own purposes and won’t relinquish her easily. 

Can Khian find her in time? Will he and his uncanny allies be able to prevent her death? And if the couple escapes and reaches safety, what of their fledgling romance?