Today, I have Rachel Leigh Smith
and her fabulous novels,
My Name is A'yen,
The King's Mistress, &
To Save a Life.
Here's Rachel discussing her preference for the guys.
A Portrait Of Two Heroes
It’s no secret the hero is
always my favorite character in a romance. If you’ve read My Name Is A’yen, you
probably noticed it’s all about him. If you haven’t read it, you’ve been
warned. It’s all about him.
Writing male POV comes
naturally to me. Writing female POV doesn’t. Weird, huh? When I started writing
My Name Is A’yen, three years ago tomorrow, I decided to throw out all the
rules and boxes I’d been trying to stuff myself into, and write the story the
way it wanted to be written. It was the most freeing experience of my life.
Then I did something else I’d
never done. I kept the same main characters going into the second book, The
King’s Mistress. A’yen still had a lot to do and go through before he could
move into the role he’s destined to play. He also needed to learn how to keep
his mouth shut. He has a tendency to pop off with whatever comes into his head,
whether it’s appropriate or not. It gets him in a lot of trouble sometimes.
What I didn’t expect was to
meet a young man named Da’Ro, who simultaneously broke my heart and stole it
when he walked onto the page. Ro is A’yen’s bodyguard, and they’re
telepathically linked. But I’m not going to tell you why Ro is his bodyguard.
You’ll have to read the books to find out.
A’yen qualifies as a tortured
hero, because of the events of his immediate backstory before My Name Is A’yen
opens, and what he goes through over the course of the novel. A’yen is a slave
in this novel. He lost his first love and his daughter, the limited freedom
he’d had while his lover was alive, and his sense of belonging.
A tortured hero never stops
fighting and he never gives up. Especially A’yen. He knows what true love is,
and what true freedom is, and he won’t stop until every Lokmane alive knows it
too. His past gives him the strength to fight.
Ro, on the other hand, is a
broken hero. He has two people in his whole life who love him with no strings
attached. He believes himself beyond saving, and that he’s not worth the
effort. He even has a hard time saving himself when the situation calls for it.
Ro’s past has killed his strength and left him believing he’s incapable of
fighting.
He’s not your average
telepath amongst his species, either. He’s more powerful, and also sees
emotions as colors. He can also rewrite memories, which has been forbidden in
his species for thousands of years. He was trained to do it, against his will,
and hates doing it. Unfortunately, he also remembers every memory he alters and
every mind he invades. But if he doesn’t do it, his brother will be killed.
The events of The King’s
Mistress start the process of convincing Ro he does have value as a person, and
is worth more than the sum of his illegal talents. Until he and A’yen end up
back in the place Ro was born, and Ro loses the one person who’s always stood
by him. The progress he’d made on learning how to be whole is all undone at
that moment.
Ro and A’yen continue to
share the lead time in To Save A Life, book three released on 5/4. Ro is a man
obsessed—with his version of justice for what’s been done to him. He’s also in
love. But he can’t have the justice he wants and his happy ending. To get his
justice means he dies. And he’s okay with the it.
What does a broken hero do?
He chooses the justice, because he believes he’s too broken and too far gone.
Ro doesn’t believe Jasmyn when she tells him she’s not leaving him.
Since this is a romance, you
know it has a happily ever after ending. But I’m not telling you how Ro and
Jasmyn get it. You’ll have to read the books.
Ro traced his thumb
across her bottom lip. He shouldn’t love her. After all, he had nothing to ofer
her. No home, no name, no future. Even if, by some miracle, he was found
innocent, he had to kill Camden. And there was no guarantee he’d survive that.
But he did
love Jasmyn. With parts of him he hadn’t known existed. She was every piece of
sweet and light in his world. The embodiment of hope. Permission to dream
again, to imagine a world where he was truly free.
They’d spent
so much time together in the last year. She’d taught him how to live, for the
first time. Helped him spread his wings and fly.
Doing this
through bars wasn’t how he’d imagined sharing their first kiss. But here they
were, trying to make the best of it. Wanting to make the best of it.
He cupped her
face as best he could and touched his lips to hers. Unlike every other person
he’d kissed—usually against his will—she didn’t use her teeth to hold him
captive or inflict pain. Sweetness and light infused him, banishing, for a moment,
the memories of every bruising kiss from Camden.
In the
sweetness, he tasted everything he could have been. A thousand futures he’d
never have. Nights of bliss in her arms. Days spent in her sweet company. All
combined to make him forget, for a moment, that he was in jail for murder.
With Jasmyn
at his side, he could fly forever. Her touch, her taste, the silk of her mouth.
Life in all its abundance. Everything he’d been afraid to dream.
But Jasmyn couldn’t be at his side. Not anymore.
Not with this cruel twist in his life. He broke all physical contact with her
and slid back out of her reach. “It’s not fair.”
She touched
the fingers of her left hand to her lips, making him want another taste.
“What?”
“I
finally find someone who wants me, and I can’t have you.”
Her knuckles
turned white from her grip on the bars separating them. “I’ve finally found
someone who wants me. I won’t let anyone take you from me.” The conviction in
her voice should’ve made him feel better.
“We
have no control over what’s coming, Jas.”
“I
don’t care. I love you, and I won’t stop fighting for the chance to have a life
with you.”
He took her
hands again, need for her touch soothing the bruised places in his heart. “I
need you to tell Na’var something.”
“Anything,
my love.”
He touched
his forehead to hers. “I love the way that sounds. Tell him the evidence
against me is an electrical current signature. I didn’t know there was such a
thing. If anyone can figure out how it was faked, it’s him.”
Jasmyn
nodded. “I’ll go tell him right now.”
“And
tell A’yen not to worry about me. I’m okay.”
“What
about your tropes?”
“Kynan’s
taking care of it.” He slid back. “I want to kiss you again, and I’m afraid if
I do, I’ll try to pop the lock so I don’t have to stop. If I do that, I’m
really screwed.”
She gave him
an impish little smile. “I plan to come see you every day until they let you
go.”
He chose to
say nothing. The only reason he’d let himself go this far was because he knew
it was over. They weren’t going to get a chance for him to learn how to let
another person into his soul.
He watched
her leave then sank onto the cot again.
Blue and
orange spots flitted across his vision, on a background of white. Not a
combination he was used to from A’yen. Eyes closed, he stretched through their
link, looking for the reason. When he found it, he fell against the wall.
So much for
being accepted some day.
To Save A LifeA’yen’s Legacy, book 3
A’yen's loved
ones are under attack. To save them, he'll risk everything.
Half the Lokmane are free and the resettling of Lok’ma is
in progress. A'yen is crowned king, but it isn't stopping his enemies. Someone
is after Ro, and the woman he's falling in love with is caught in the middle.
When Fae is injured in a cave-in at a dig site, A'yen knows
who’s to blame. Proving it is the hard part. Things get worse when he walks
into a political trap, and Ro is framed for murder. Saving his reputation
is easy compared to saving Ro. Ro’s demons come for him, taking him back to a
life not worth living.
A'yen races to save Ro before he can act on his deepest
desire: killing his tormentor. Happily ever after can't happen if Ro is dead.
Giveaway for a signed copy of My Name Is A’yen! Ends 5/31.
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