#CharacterInterview – “Crystal Clear Truth” by Kayelle Allen

Today the heroine from Kayelle Allen’s sci/fi romance, Crystal Clear Truth, is visiting for a chat. I love character interviews, so let’s get started…

What’s your name?

I’m Shohn Lexius. When you say my first name, think “like the stars at night.” And the last name is Kin, so it’s a little different. Say it as lex-EYE-us.

What do you look like?

I’m tall compared to a human female. Around six feet four inches, Tradestandard. Pretty close to your measurement system. I’m also a Kin, which means I’m more feline looking. If I lay my ears back, my silhouette looks human. But I also have hidden claws, fangs – not like a vampire, thank you – and catlike irises that I can widen and close at will. Because my ears are on top of my head where ears belong, I can hear far more than you humans. But the thing that really sets me apart from you is that I can smell something humans can’t control that well–emotions. I have Kin friends who know the moment a person decides to lie, before they’ve even spoken one word. The old adage, “you can’t fool a Kin or God” is literally true. Comes in handy during interrogations… or when buying a vehicle.

Awesome, and I’m taking you with me when I need a new car! What time period does your story take place?

Our year is 4669, but since it’s Tradestandard it’s quite different from yours, which would be in AD about 15,120-something.

Wow. What’s your goal in this story?

My major goal is to protect Luc Saint-Cyr and his family, and to protect his assets empire-wide. It’s a big job. The man has businesses on all twenty-two planets and some outside the Empire. He trusts me implicitly, and he also listens to me. If I tell him something is unsafe he doesn’t blow off the advice. I also have a personal agenda that I can’t talk about here, but it affects every decision I make.

I understand. What is your occupation? Are you any good at it? Do you like it?

I’ll answer this in reverse order. I jump out of bed every day eager to get to work, and I’m damn good at it. I oversee security and head a department with over a thousand personnel and more than a million bots and droids. I also have a personal assistant who is the most important person in the worlds when it comes to getting information. We’ve only worked together a few years but I don’t know what I’d do without him. I have my own twenty-person security team. If I call on any one of them I will get a hundred percent devotion and loyalty. They are fierce fighters but they’re all also highly intelligent. I don’t work with grunts. This is like your SEAL team or your Rangers. Top in their class.

Good to know. What skill do you have that you’re proud of? Why?

I’m good at commanding people and getting them to be loyal. The reason they are is because I make sure of two things. One, that they know what’s expected of them and that they can do it. Two, they know how much I appreciate them, and I trust them to do their jobs. Once they are trained, I’m there only to coordinate. They know what to do and I let them do it. Who wants to be told how to do their job when they’ve been doing it forever? You either trust people, or you don’t. My senior liaison who’s the team leader for the group is a Kin also, but she’s not your normal Kin. She’s immortal, and in her first life. She was created by the immortal king Pietas and he’s asked me to teach her the ropes. Not much to teaching her, actually. She catches on super-fast. Show her once, and she’s got it. But it does make it awkward because part of my job that I never get to reveal to most people is to act as a protector for immortals. I am honestly amazed that the king allows Kayelle so much freedom to write about them, because they don’t want mortals to even know they exist. Once mortals realize immortal blood can not only heal mortals, but can even bring the recently deceased back to life… Well, you can imagine. So they conceal the secret of their blood’s power at all costs.

Yeah, Kayelle is risking a lot for sure! 😉 What did you think the first time you saw Joe?

He’s human, so a little different from me, but I was immediately attracted to him. As Kin put it, he “made my claws come out.” If we’d met in a social situation, I’d have asked for his name and could I take him out to dinner, or for drinks. I’m quite the introvert, usually, but when I see someone I’d like to know better, I can be quite the opposite. Here’s the thing about Joe that I liked right away. He is confident in who he is, and isn’t intimidated by others who are confident as well. There are no power plays with Joe. He has a great sense of humor, and mine is quite dry, but he gets me. Like when he admitted he generally lives with clutter–which I detest having around me–I joked that in my house if he left something where it didn’t belong, he’d find out why I’m always so well-armed. He swallowed and asked if I was joking. I asked did he want to find out? So a few minutes later, he was cleaning in the kitchen and called out, “See? I’m recycling. Don’t shoot.” Gotta love a guy like that.

I love a guy who can joke! What is your family like?

Like chocolate chip cookies. I like to take those and dip them in milk, and then hold them under until the bubbles stop. Next question?

Haha! If you could go back in time, what one thing would you change in your life?

I’d have gone to see my brother after he got married and moved away. I put him off because I was “too busy” and he later committed suicide. If only I had visited him when he asked and done more to ensure his freedom… I blame myself for being indifferent to the role of males in Kin society. I didn’t take time to see what was happening around me, and to my brother, who was trapped in a loveless, arranged marriage with no civil liberties or rights. Everything that’s happened in my life since has been affected or influenced by his death. I would look more deeply at those around me. See them. Hear them. I fight for freedom for Kin males every day. I wish that it hadn’t taken my brother’s death to show me how my privileged position put him and other males in jeopardy. That’s what I would change.

I’m so sorry to hear about your brother, but at least you’re honoring his memory. Thank you so much for chatting with me today.

Crystal Clear Truth

A slow-burn, forced proximity scifi alien romance

How can you trust when your own truth is a lie?

Shohn has only one goal: live a lie-filled life undercover. The elite head of security permits herself no family ties and few friends. But when firestorm scientist Joe needs help to locate his birth mother, and hires Shohn, she begins to rethink her rule of isolation.

Unknown to them, their intensive search triggers an alert that brings powerful, dark forces into play. Every attempt to uncover the truth results in more cover ups. But why? Who is this young woman, and who is the unknown person or power foiling Shohn and Joe’s attempts to find her?

But maybe the better question is–what is she?

*Crystal Clear Truth – A slow-burn, forced proximity scifi alien romance set in the far future, in an empire full of treachery and secrets…

*If you like books with take-charge feline heroines and solid romance plots, this happy-ever-after friends-to-lovers story is for you.

Universal Buy Link

https://books2read.com/ab-crystal-clear

The entire Antonello Brothers series is on sale until May 1st. Book 1 is free and all the rest are 99cents.

About the Author

Kayelle Allen writes stories with immortal gamers and warriors who purr. She is the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories, a US Navy veteran, and has been married so long she’s tenured. Kayelle curates the book blog Romance Lives Forever. Become a Tarthian Empire citizen (or an immortal) and help rule the Empire at www.KayelleAllen.com/immortality
Website https://kayelleallen.com
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