A great crashing exploded in our ears, dust choking the stale air of the art chamber. I seized Donia and whipped her out of the way. Just as I reached her, the first creak sounded, fragments of dust raining down from above her as the statue tilted forward. I didn’t want to warn her-it might startle her into jerking or jumping, and cutting herself with the laser. At any moment, that entire statue was going to come crashing down.ĭonia knelt to study the visual effect she’d created. I saw it at once and jumped to my feet, alarm prickling through me. Yet one swipe of her blade had extracted too large a chunk from the base of the sculpture. Today it was a star gone supernova, a scene from Helionic history depicted vividly in rock. She never aimed the blade where I expected, but somehow she always produced an image in the stone that my own imagination could never have conjured. There was something mesmerizing about the swiping and flashing of her laser blade, bright against the dark window overlooking the starscape. She was carving a statue out of a great stone slab. Amidst all the danger, action, and intrigue, her humanity just might be the thing that saves her life-and the empire. She finds a humanity truer than what she encounters from most humans. It’s a nest of vipers with threats on every side, but Nemesis must keep her true abilities a secret or risk everything.Īs the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns there is something more to her than just deadly force. Nemesis travels to the court disguised as Sidonia-a killing machine masquerading in a world of corrupt politicians and two-faced senators’ children. Now, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia. When the power-mad Emperor learns Sidonia’s father is participating in a rebellion, he summons Sidonia to the Galactic court. She would also take as many lives as necessary to keep Sidonia safe. Nemesis is expected to give her life for Sidonia, and she would do so gladly.

The two have grown up side by side, but are in no way sisters.

Nemesis is a Diabolic, a humanoid teenager created to protect a galactic senator’s daughter, Sidonia. A Diabolic has a single task: Kill in order to protect the person you’ve been created for. Red Queen meets The Hunger Games in this epic novel about what happens when a senator’s daughter is summoned to the galactic court as a hostage, but she’s really the galaxy’s most dangerous weapon in disguise.Ī Diabolic is ruthless. “The perfect kind of high-pressure adventure.”.

The diabolic kincaid