Dystopain Winner: POWER'S PAWN

Name: Raluca Balasa

Genre: Dystopian

Query:

Ebony Arden never imagined she’d see the light of day again, let alone   hold the fate of the country’s most hated leader, General Lucian   Devereaux, in her hands. Both things happen when Ebony’s breakout from   the state-run concentration camp is engineered by an enemy of   Devereaux’s to look like his idea.

Finally, Devereaux’s rivals have the perfect pretext – treason against   the state of Durus Archos – to turn the army against him. Ebony, now   imprisoned at his estate and first on his to-kill list, knows she’s   the only one who can prove the wretched man guilty. Oh, she plans to;   the only problem is that the more time she spends with Devereaux, the   less convinced she becomes that he’s the cause of the war. Worse   still, she forms a fragile bond with the man she’d written off as   heartless.

 
But Devereaux’s rivals need him gone to release a new biological   weapon that he refuses to condone. Fearing their rule might not be any   better than his, Ebony’s suddenly not sure she wants to prove   Devereaux guilty of treason – but continuing to play house with a man   who may or may not be using her seems equally dangerous. Only one   thing’s certain: placing her trust in the wrong people could ravage   the world her ancestors had worked so hard to rebuild.

 

First 250 words:

 

General Lucian Devereaux strode the Cliffhanger’s halls with anger   pulsing in his temples, paying little attention to the two men in   black and their captive who hung his head and dragged his feet. The   men saluted, then continued to a winding stone staircase that would   take them to the dungeons. As they passed, Lucian caught a whiff of   something metallic in the air.

 
Blood.

 
He’d let nothing distract him thus far to the conference room, but   this made him pause. He closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled a   long sigh through his nose. “Wait.”

 Both men stopped on the first step, turned. “Sir?”

 Lucian approached them with his hands clasped behind his back, his   gaze travelling down to the prisoner’s swollen, mangled leg. Blood   streaked the entrance hall’s marble floors where the prisoner had been   dragged.

 
“What happened?” Lucian demanded through clenched teeth.

 
The taller of the men grunted. “The scum put up a fight, General.”

 
“I need my prisoners healthy enough for experimentation. This man is   in septic shock.”

 Both men blinked. “Forgive us, General, we weren’t aware –”

 Lucian’s fury intensified like a fist to the stomach, and judging by   the men’s paling faces, they saw it in his expression. “It would be   wise,” he warned them, keeping his voice soft, “not to make such a   mistake again. Ensure that he dies quickly and painlessly.”

 
He tightened his grip on the parchment in his hand and swept from the   hallway before they could start their witless utterances of apology.