The Senator. This item is unavailable.The Senator

Rafe steps up to take his father's former position as lead senator of Reyvek and feels all the pressures of a life he doesn't want. All he desires is peace and quiet, and for everyone to leave him alone. The night he arrives for a political visit to a distant moon, he is kidnapped by Reyvek's greatest enemy. The quiet life he desires seems to be slipping further and further from his grasp. When the situation escalates into a full-blown war, he knows, even after the war ends, nothing will ever be the same.But maybe change isn't a bad thing.Rafe learns how to be the leader he never believed he could be, gains the respect of thousands of people he never expected to meet, and finds there's much more to life than staying tucked away in one little corner of the universe.- - - - - Excerpt from The SenatorFinally, still without moving anything but her lips, she spoke. “Prisoner, you have been brought here for questioning. Do you know who I am?”With every intent of showing her that he was in no more of a hurry than she had been, he studied her for a moment. She was a beautiful young woman with dark brown hair, although not quite as dark as Ilia’s. Her dark eyes looked as though they could see right through a person but not allow anyone to do the same to her. Her voice was low and smooth, and quite melodic and beautiful, and she didn’t appear to be unkind. But he knew better than to allow mere appearances to get him off his guard. He had seen people before who almost seemed to have different personalities that could show themselves at any given time. Some people were good at hiding who they really were. At least a full minute had passed and he finally opened his mouth to answer. “I believe you must be the Princess Tamar.” That was a much shorter answer than he could have given. He believed her to be a great many things, but he wasn’t here to give an analysis of who she was. He was here to find out what she wanted.“Indeed. And you are Senator Rafe from Reyvek.”He did not respond except to blink slowly. “You are here because my father – the king of Karuc, of course – is not at all happy with Reyvek.”Rafe still did not give any indication of any interest, or even that he was listening. Of course Karuc wasn’t happy with Reyvek. Karuc had never been happy with Reyvek. Why was it suddenly such a big deal that the princess had to interrogate him? He hadn’t done much of anything since stepping up to take his father’s place in the senate. If Karuc had an argument with his father, then perhaps they should kidnap him instead. The corner of his mouth twitched at the thought, and Princess Tamar glowered.“Reyvek refuses to cooperate with the trading policies that Karuc has established, refuses to pay the taxes we are owed, and also refuses to allow us to oversee the trading that we have established with localities in the Epsilon Galaxy – such as Hassar, which is where we found you.”“Kidnapped me, you mean.” Rafe hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but there it was. And why not? That’s what had happened, after all. They had even drugged him.

Samantha Downing completed her first NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) novel in 2007. She has been working to complete at least one novel each year since then as she strives to refine her writing skills. She majored in journalism at VCU and now works for a community bank in Virginia. She lives with her parents, sisters, and all their animals in the country in Virginia.