Title: Heart of a Traitor (The Agency Book 4)
Author: C.C. Bolick
Genre: YA Dystopian
Book Blurb
As prince of Golvern, Chase knows that his days as a Lucha Noir spy are numbered. His sister has been kidnapped and he struggles to uphold his vow to never lose her again. Chase finds himself fighting a threat he never considered—a Tyro leader who holds the power to change Golvern’s future. But what good is learning the truth if you never get to tell anyone? At Sylvia’s insistence, Tyler leaves Earth to avoid being captured and tried as a traitor. He travels to Golvern and takes on a mission from Van to infiltrate a Tyro base and kill their leader. There, he learns of an underground mine using human slave labor, despite Golvern’s advanced technology. He vows to find the leader of this place, but first he must fight to survive using his power.
Excerpt:
I took a deep breath as the ship bounced again. A buzzer sounded from the control panel and Van said something that was nowhere near English. My heart pounded in my chest. I was really doing this… all of my training in the Army should have prepared me for this leap of faith. But space travel?
“What’s wrong?” Stephanie drummed her fingers on the stack of pizza boxes in her lap. She’d insisted on bringing three pizzas back from Earth since no one made pizza on Golvern. “You look a little sick.”
“Are we safe in this ship?”
She smiled. “As long as we don’t light up like a piece of aluminum foil in a microwave, we’re good.”
When silence followed her words, I couldn’t work up the courage to ask if that was possible. “I don’t know anything about Golvern.”
Bailey patted my hand and my fingers dug deeper into the armrest. “You’ll be fine, just work on your fear.”
“Is it that obvious?” I asked. “It’s all this new technology. I don’t trust electronics.”
“I can see worry in every line of your face,” Bailey said. “It’s like you’re screaming at me through a megaphone.”
The ability to read emotions was her gift and Van’s. “I don’t know any of the language there. How do you say hello on Golvern?”
She waved a hand in front of my face. “Hello is kind of universal.”
“Good.” For the first time on that ship, I started to relax. The smell of pizza made my stomach growl and I wondered when I’d last eaten. “Do you feel like sharing?”
Stephanie laughed. “If I did, you’d hate me in about fifteen minutes.”
“Why fifteen minutes?”
Stephanie turned to Bailey. “Should I tell him what’s up ahead?”
Bailey shrugged. “Why ask me? You’re the one who can see the future.”
The smile on Stephanie’s face turned cold and lifeless. “Yes. I think it will be better to wait.”
“Wait for what?” The air seemed to thin and she looked away; I took fast gulps as if I was drowning. “What’s up ahead?”
“If you really want to know, there’s a gateway,” Bailey said. “It connects Earth’s side of the galaxy to Golvern’s. When we enter the gateway, it will drain all of the ship’s energy, even ours.”
“You mean…”
Stephanie leaned forward. “Your heart will stop for ninety-two seconds. You’ll be forced to depend on our technology to bring you back—E.R. style. What was that you said about not trusting technology?”
The lights around us switched off. My eyes adjusted to the dim lights of the control panel as we bobbed from side-to-side like a buoy in the ocean.
“Hope you’ve got your seatbelt on,” Bailey said.
My hand gripped hers. “I don’t think I’ll survive this. At least I’ll get what’s coming to me. Karma, right?”
“We call it fate,” Lorraine said with a laugh.
The ship dropped to one side and my weight shifted against Bailey.
“Show him the lights,” Stephanie said. “Watching the waves of energy flow into the gateway is the best part of this journey.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I don’t care about any lights.”
Those were the last words I said before my heart stopped beating.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Grab a free copy today (3/11) and tomorrow (3/12) only!
Giveaway: I’m one of the authors participating in the Are Ye Feeling a Wee Bit Lucky Giveaway and you can win an e-copy or print copy of winner’s choice of one of C. C. Bolick’s books. https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db7750100
Runs March 1 - 31 and is open internationally for most prizes. Winners will be drawn on April 1, 2021.
Author Biography
C.C. Bolick grew up in south Alabama, where she’s happy to still reside. She’s an engineer by day and a writer by night—too bad she could never do one without the other.
Camping, fishing… she loves the outdoors and the warm Alabama weather. For years she thought up stories to write and finally started putting them on paperback in 2006. If you hear her talking with no one to answer, don’t think she’s crazy. Since talking through her stories works best, a library is her worst place to write… even though it’s her favorite!
C.C. loves to mix sci-fi and paranormal—throw in a little romance and adventure and you’ve got her kind of story. She’s written a dozen books including the Leftover Girl series, The Agency series, and The Fear Chronicles.
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