MeiLin Miranda's Blog, page 49
June 27, 2011
Chapter 12 Part 8 | Lovers and Beloveds | IHGK Book 1
The brief betrothal gave Emmae some consolation; Hildin and Gian stayed away from her, for appearance's sake. She might move through the Keep, but stayed in her rooms instead, avoiding the casual desire that eddied whenever a man passed his eye over her.
But now, the hated day had arrived. Fredrik presented his daughter before Pagg at the temporary altar in the Keep's great hall, and tried to ascribe her violent trembling to excitement. They repeated their vows, Emmae sullen and dull, Hildin ringing and proud, almost insolent. The Little Father knotted the marriage cord three times around Emmae's left wrist: "Obedience, humility, fidelity." He gave the free end to Hildin, who pulled her to their marriage bed through hallways deserted by custom as the two kingdoms' nobles cheered in the great hall.
Chapter 12 Part 7 | Lovers and Beloveds | IHGK Book 1
King Fredrik found his daughter changed. She'd been so willful, so disdainful, so...loud. But now, she rarely met anyone's eyes, and seldom spoke. She kept herself apart, staying in her rooms at dinner. She trembled whenever Hildin came near her, and once almost dropped the wine goblet his page Gian gave her. Even her name had changed. Hildin called her Emmae; he told Fredrik he'd fallen in love with the Princess as soon as he'd set eyes on her, and since "Emmae" meant "worth loving" in the Tremontine, Fredrik chose to believe him.
June 24, 2011
Chapter 12 Part 6 | Lovers and Beloveds | IHGK Book 1
Temmin returned to the dinner table that night, tensed for a confrontation. Instead, his father ignored him, giving him no more than a cursory "Good evening" and a withering look the one time he spoke. Sedra and his mother watched them both, while Ellika chattered on. Temmin supposed Fennows took his dinner in town; he didn't bother to ask.
After dinner, when the women had retired, Harsin left for his own rooms after one silent glass of port, bolted back and the empty glass deposited on the table. Temmin told himself he didn't care, drank his own glass and joined his mother and sisters in the Small Sitting Room.
June 20, 2011
Chapter 12 Part 5 | Lovers and Beloveds | IHGK Book 1
Temmin broke from the book, filled with Emmae's despair and Hildin's resentment. He thought of something his father once said about finding coercion arousing, and wondered if it ran in the family. "Poor girl! Did she live out her life like that, under the spell? How did the King keep her safe? What a sentence, all for refusing to pay a Traveler!"
June 17, 2011
Chapter 12 Part 4 | Lovers and Beloveds | IHGK Book 1
Emmae awoke the next morning to find Old Meg bustling about the room. "Child, get up! See here, the Prince has given you new dresses!" She spread out a fine blue gown.
"What?" yawned Emmae. Her sleepiness fled on seeing the clothes, and she sat up in bed. "He's giving me clothes? Why?"
"I'm sure I don't know, dear, but I'm to get you ready as fast as ever I can."
Emmae ate and then let Meg dress her, as impassive as a doll. Meg brushed Emmae's lustrous chestnut hair and set a soft blue veil and a golden circlet over it. "Ah, to be young and have such skin again!" said Meg. "My Hildin will be so pleased! You look like a princess, dear!"
"I'm not a princess. I'm a woodsman's wife. Or was meant to be." Tears pricked at her eyes, but after days of crying, she had few left.
June 15, 2011
Episode 47: Twinkle, Twinkle | Scryer's Gulch
By the time the piano lesson was ending, Annabelle had a headache; Lily Bonham was a very bright child, but she was also a very indulged child. Luckily for everyone, indulgence did not encourage a native spite, but rather a native impatience, a desire to skip the preliminaries and move straight to the action no matter how important the preliminaries were.
In this, Annabelle supposed, Lily resembled her father. Lily assumed sitting down at the piano and making her fingers look like they were playing would be enough to assume familiarity with the keyboard. Bonham was assuming familiarity without preliminaries, too--but with Annabelle herself, not the piano. That presented some serious difficulties.
June 13, 2011
Chapter 12 Part 3 | Lovers and Beloveds | IHGK Book 1
As the days passed, Hildin and Gian came to Emmae every night, and sometimes during the day as well; she had no choice but to enter into everything they did to her. "I will break you soon," Hildin said once. "Every time I take you, you are a little less hesitant, a little more eager. Fight harder, darling, I'm not tired of it yet!" She cried aloud, in ecstasy and despair, and Gian licked the tears from her cheeks.
Emmae grew despondent. Meg told the Prince the girl never slept; Hildin took to using the enchanted ring to force sleep upon her.
Meanwhile, King Gethin fell from madness to near-unconsciousness; his time drew short. Hildin sat with him, watching him sleep, until his father roused and took his hand. "Warin? I knew you'd return," said the King, his voice weak and crackling, as if he breathed through water.
"I am Hildin, sir," grated the son. "Warin is dead."
"Warin dead?" wept Gethin. "Oh, my son, my only son!" Hildin snatched his hand away. Gethin cried himself into stertorous insensibility.
June 12, 2011
News from the Greater Kingdom
I now have a newsletter! Finally! Subscribing to it means you won't miss when I put out new content for patrons and new stories for sale. I'll be announcing the presale for book two on it, for instance. It's for those of you who don't spend a whole lot of time here but still want to keep in touch with what's going on; it's not going to be high-traffic, just announcements only from time to time. You can subscribe to it at Mailchimp.
June 10, 2011
Chapter 12 Part 2 | Lovers and Beloveds | IHGK Book 1
Warin arrived home leading a laden pack horse. The door swung open at his touch, unlatched; he tripped on an empty water bucket just inside. Ashes filled the stone-cold hearth.
He called for Emmae, but no answer came. He ran outside and called again, ran to all the places he thought she might be, but he didn't find her. His heart gave a great thud, and he ran back to the cottage. There, beside the hearth, he found the newly-shined silver tray. A message glowed on the table top, burned into the wood:
I found a girl left all alone and took her home for safekeeping
--H
Warin seized the tray. "Show me Hildin of Tremont!" he shouted, but it reflected only his own stricken face. He threw the tray against the chimney to clatter against the hearthstones.
June 8, 2011
"Dalston Junction" ebook
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