Loyalty
Loyalty Book I: To the Death
(This book is currently undergoing a massive rewrite, replot, and restructure, so do excuse the wonky synopsis from last year.)
Temporary mock cover — thank you Max
Ari Xiang-Su, an intensively trained ninja living during the time of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan, has to make some life-or-death decisions regarding her allegiance. It doesn’t help that her arch nemesis, a samurai warrior by the name of Hinoki Ajinomoto, continually surprises her with his questioning actions all the while she undertakes the most potentially fatal missions of her life. When allegations are made and trust is lost, Ari must once again prove her loyalty not to a single human being, but to her very faith.
Loyalty Book II: Pursuit of No One
In the second book of the Loyalty series, ninja Ari Xiang-Su has successfully escaped the grasp of tyrant Daku Maruko once again; and discovered she’s not an only child after all. Even after Maruko is turned in to the newest shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan, Ari cannot rest at ease. Her previous enemy, a samurai warrior named Hinoki Ajinomoto, and her forester friend, Yakana, have disappeared without a trace.
Ari suspects it’s the work of a ruthless, murderous, barbaric bounty hunter named Hora Sakenomi who works for the evil man Hinoki owes forgotten money to — and Hinoki wonders if there is more to Hora than the merciless bitter front she puts up. Desperately, Ari gets together a group of Hinoki’s most trusted samurai, her newfound brother, and a previous spy for the government to try and find him.
Even though Ari has to work with her sworn enemies, the samurai, to try and find the man who has saved her life so many times, her loyalty to him drives her on as she finally admits she really does love him. But when they halt at a dead end and her team around her gives up hope, claiming the pursuit of Hinoki a “pursuit of no one”, how far can Ari’s loyalty go to find the man she loves?
Temporary mock cover — thank you Sarah