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!)

May be edited a bit from published version.

I’m switching to my new release KYDEN: BADARI GLADIATORS SERIES BOOK ONE.

The excerpt, from the very beginning of the book:

Kyden was used to the raucous noise of the other gladiators on the night before a fight and the sounds of the women who’d come to entertain them. Sometimes there was even a catfight between two or more of the women over a certain man’s favors. But this evening there was a different note in at least one of the female voices raised in protest. The person sounded too young, too nobly born and too naïve to be here. A second woman’s voice rose as if to echo the other, sounding angry and desperate. The harsh guffawing of the gladiators drowned out the actual words being exchanged but Kyden’s instincts told him the situation was problematic.

With a sigh he put aside the ancient book he was studying and prepared to go see what was happening. Badari warriors were sworn to defend those weaker than themselves and he couldn’t ignore his lifelong commitment to the commandments of his goddess.

Striding from the small private room he claimed, being the top gladiator in the Five Systems, he reached the huge common area in no time. The men were mostly gathered around two women, although some of the fighters had already wandered off with more amenable bed partners.

He hesitated on the threshold, assessing the situation. His friend Benet raised a mug of cheap feelgood, which sloshed over the side as he gestured to Kyden amiably.

“Come to join the fun?”

KYDEN: BADARI GLADIATORS SERIES BOOK ONE by Veronica Scott

Kyden is the top ranked gladiator in the Five Systems but he’s hardly there by choice. Unscrupulous guards faked his death in the lab where he was created and sold him into slavery in the galaxy’s hinterlands. He has no idea where his home is or how many years have passed since he was condemned to a life of endless combat. Kill or be killed is the rule and a Badari never gives up. He’ll fight to stay alive until the Badari goddess sees fit to decree his death.

Elara Vasclavian is the daughter of a senator, as far removed from the life of a gladiator as a noblewoman can be until through the machinations of a political enemy, she ends up in terrible jeopardy. Abducted and given to a group of drunken gladiators for their amusement the night before the games, Elara vows to put up a fight but there’s no real hope of saving herself. Until Kyden steps in, responding to the goddess’s commandment to protect those who are smaller and weaker. And discovers she’s his fated mate.

Rescued, Elara returns to her life of privilege but she can’t forget the man who saved her life. The gulf between their places in the Five Systems is unbridgeable, no matter how much Kyden longs for even a glimpse of her in the arena audience. No matter how much she feels the pull to be by his side. As matters stand, they cannot be together…Or can they?

KYDEN is the first book in a new series, spun off from my ongoing Badari Warriors series. Kyden is a Generation Five Badari whereas the main characters in the long running series are from a later time and are Generation Eight. This new series stands alone and you don’t have to have read any of the other books to enjoy this one. I couldn’t resist the temptation to tell a few other Badari stories, set in the galaxy’s Hinterlands, and who can resist gladiators?

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Here’s the book trailer for KYDEN…