SEA FEVER -- Teaser 2

Here's sharing another extract of Sea Fever, my new novel scheduled to be published in late September, 2022. This piece is from Chapter 2 "The Room at the Top".

Breathing deeply, Ayan feels the tranquility of being alone in the pinnacle space of the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation. He hears footsteps, followed by a bang as the door opens and quickly shuts. Instinctively he turns towards the doorway to see what unwelcome visitor is intruding on his quiet solitude. It is a young Asian woman in jeans, a short brown jacket, and calf-high fashion boots. She looks a little frantic. Her eyes rest on Ayan. Quickly she walks around the huge round table to where he has perched by one of the stained-glass windows and stops beside him, sounding breathless.

“Zdravstvuyte!” In spite of his displeasure at being disturbed, he greets the stranger in Russian out of politeness. Receiving no response, he repeats in English, “Hello!”

“Hi,” the woman responds, taking a deep breath. The uneasy look in her eyes softens, even though she and Ayan are total strangers. She looks to be about thirty, not tall, perhaps a meter six. She could be Kazakh, but for her tanned complexion, much darker than city women in his country. At the moment, she seems somewhat distracted, not impressed by the stained-glass doves or the panoramic view. “This place seems pretty deserted. I was a bit scared walking up from the elevator,” she says to Ayan with a nervous laugh. Her English betrays she is not local, probably American.