Happy Monday!
I really love how this cover came out. Desert Rose was first published in March of 2013.
This short story is about Johari. She is a young and naïve feline-shapeshifter (of the black jaguar/panther variety). She wants to be important and honored like her older sister who married the King of Bonzapur. She thought the visiting king loved her.
Why can’t a king have a harem? The Haruzo do, but not the humans.
Unfortunately, cultures clash and misunderstanding leads down a broken road.
She has made a vow and she intends to do what is right in spite of the hostility toward her kind and the distance that grows between her and the foreign king.
In this story, we get a glimpse of the feline-shapeshifters of the desert, a child born on a moonless night, chosen by the priestess to undo the last sacrifice. But who is he? We meet him later in the Hidden Dagger trilogy. 🙂
One of the interesting things about these stories is that many of them found a theme song. Songs I discovered while writing or revising these stories. I stumbled upon this song and couldn’t believe how this song resonated with Johari and Val’s story. Desert Rose by Sting.