He shook off the darkness and forced a smile. “Will you be staying for a while?”

Before Aryn could answer, Arra’s voice carried from the house. “Daddy! Can I come out now?”

He waved her out and she threw open the door, bounded across the porch, down the stairs, and across the swath.

Aryn grabbed him by the arm. “She’s running, Zeerid.”

“Prosthetics,” he said, and his eyes welled anew to see her running toward him with Aryn at his side.

When Arra reached them, she stopped before them, out of breath, her curly hair mussed, her eyes curious and her smile wide. She extended a small hand, all serious. “Hello. My name is Arra.”

Aryn knelt down to look her in the eye. Taking her hand, she said, “I’m Aryn. Hello, Arra. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You have pretty eyes,” Arra said.

“Thank you.”

Zeerid spoke his hopes aloud. “I think Aryn is going to stay with us for a while. Won’t that be nice?”

Arra nodded.

“Aren’t you, Aryn? Staying for a while?”

Aryn rose and Zeerid’s hopes rose with her, fragile, ready to be dashed. When she looked at him and nodded, he grinned like a fool.

“Do you like to play grav-ball?” Arra asked her.

“You can teach me,” Aryn said.

“How about some food?” Zeerid said.

“Race you!” Arra said, and sprinted for the house.

Zeerid and Aryn fell in behind her, all three of them laughing, free.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAUL S. KEMP is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Star Wars: Crosscurrent, as well as nine Forgotten Realms fantasy novels and many short stories. When he’s not writing, he practices corporate law in Michigan, which has inspired him to write some really believable villains. He digs cigars, single-malt scotch, and ales, and tries to hum the theme song to Shaft at least once per day. Paul Kemp lives and works in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife, twin sons, and a couple of cats.

Excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast

FOR OVER THREE DECADES, the Star Wars universe has been expanding. New drama, new adventures, and new revelations have played out in the pages of bestselling Star Wars novels. Now, almost forty years after the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo are living legends, starring alongside a new generation of heroes in their endless struggle to bring peace to a beleaguered galaxy.

This is the start of Fate of the Jedi, the newest Star Wars saga: nine books, three authors, one spectacular epic adventure!

Read on for a brief refresher course on the current standing of the characters and worlds of the galaxy far, far away … or skip straight to a sample from the first book of Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast, by Aaron Allston!

THE STATE OF THE GALAXY