Aldrea Alien's Blog, page 5

Rainbow Snippets: Left to rot…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from last week’s snippet…

“How far are we going?” Even as he asked the question, the all-too-familiar buzz of flies reached his ears. The stench of decaying flesh assaulted his senses not long after. He covered his nose, his gaze darting Marin’s way to see her grimness had returned. What had she found out here?

His thoughts flashed to the destroyed tower wall. Had some spellsters escaped after all? Only to be hunted and left to rot out in the wilderness?

Marin jerked her head, indicating they climb a ridge just ahead. “We’re almost there. We’re lucky the wind’s changed since I found them. Smelt it long before now.” She lifted a branch out of their path, the leaves creating a screen above her. “Reckon they’ve been there a few days.”

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Tomorrow’s problem…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from last week’s snippet…

“Authril’s brashness might have something to do with it.”

Tracker grunted. Even though he had suggested the spellster stay close to him, he couldn’t outright object to the current sleeping arrangements without causing some manner of friction.

He needed to separate Dylan from the group for long enough to tell the man of her true intentions behind her sexual advances or wait until she tried again and see if he refused her of his own volition.

Both were a problem for another day.

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Hedgewitch philosophy…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from last week’s snippet…

“You never saw the aftermath, yes?” It made her the only one of them who hadn’t.

Marin shook her head. “Seeing something like that once in a lifetime is enough.” She jerked a thumb back towards the camp. “They’d likely agree. In fact, if it wasn’t for Authril’s insistence about moving on, I think Kat and Dylan would’ve opted to stay a little longer.”

And if they had, Tracker might have found them long before their encounter at Toptower, with perhaps a far more volatile outcome. “You believe she is the driving force behind their movements?” For all her talk of returning to Dvärghem, the hedgewitch seemed content to take her time. But that could easily be the woman’s philosophy.

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Three drowned rats…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from last week’s snippet…

“That is also possible.” Places like Lynhold were rarely visited by the King’s Hounds unless summoned. If the woman’s magic was slight enough to go unnoticed by the average person, or even beneficial to the people, no one would’ve sought to be rid of her. “Still, you witnessed this destruction as a child and permitted a spellster into your home.”

She laughed. “I gave shelter to the three drowned rats I found on my doorstep. Knew he was a spellster, of course, those damn robes the army puts them in marks him from across a field. Looked pathetic enough that didn’t really think about that what he was capable of. Besides, without them, I wouldn’t have known the Udyneans had destroyed the army.” She fell silent for a few steps, likely thinking of just how much death would’ve been wrought for such an occurrence.

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Lynhold…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from last week’s snippet…

“Lynhold. I remember hearing about it as a boy.” The recollection was faint, mere mentions amongst older hounds whilst they oversaw the training young. Even without the empire trumping them so deftly, Udynea gnawed at Demarn’s border like rats plundering a silo. Settlements too small to defend against magic became little more than rubble and a smudge in history. An isolated place like Lynhold would’ve had no chance.

“My grandfather used to say the place was doomed from the day they let the hounds drag away this pregnant elven woman.”

“She would have carried a spellster child.”

Marin shook her head. “It was years before I was born, but the way they spoke, I think she was the spellster.”

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: On no maps…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from last week’s snippet…

Tracker shrugged. “It is always nice to have more than a passing acquaintance with travelling companions.” If she didn’t wish to speak of the past, he would push only to confirm the details she’d already freely given. “You spoke of your home being burnt to the ground by Udyneans. Your village was on the border, yes?” Or what had once been the border. If the empire had succeeded in their invasion back when she was a child, then the land was well and truly under their control.

Her smile fell and her gaze drifted to the forest ahead. “Damn elven hearing,” she muttered under her breath before speaking louder, “It was. Nothing extravagant or anything, just a hamlet south of Toptower and a little north of the Udynean border.” She kicked a pinecone into the brush. “You won’t find it on most maps nowadays.”

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Unheard opinions…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from last week’s snippet…

He trailed behind her, the seriousness in her voice tweaking his curiosity. Clearly, she had found something that was interest to them. That she didn’t immediately inform him what it was suggested she wasn’t entirely certain herself.

“It occurs to me,” he said, aware that if their destination warranted silence, she would’ve told him. Questions about herself would turn her mind from Dylan and what had, or hadn’t, been said to the man. “Whilst we all know a certain warrior’s mind and much of her past.” Some of it too excess as the woman refused to keep quiet. “I have not heard of your opinion on recent matters. You do not appear to have the same reservations about magic as our dear warrior. Why is that?”

She paused for a moment to grin a little too broadly back at him. “Why do you want to know?”

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Unwanted questions…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from last week’s snippet…

Nodding almost absently, she scuffed her boot along the ground, leaving a line of dry soil amongst the leaf-litter. “And have you told him? About Authril?”

“You mean what our dear warrior said in the tower? Not as yet.” It was still too early. “But that cannot be why you brought me out here.” Such a question could’ve easily been asked whilst changing their shifts on watch, when both Dylan and Authril were asleep. Insisting in front of the others that he vanish into the forest with her would bring questions upon their return.

Marin shook her head, her lips flattening into a grim line. “It’s not. I need you to see something.” She pushed on through the undergrowth. “This way.”

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Seeking control…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from last week’s snippet…

No sounds out of the ordinary reached him. Birds sang from the branches, unconcerned with their presence. A few fantailed varieties danced around them, peeping for them to keep moving and stir up more tiny morsels from the undergrowth. If he strained his hearing, he fancied there being a low hum in the distance.

Marin glanced over his shoulder, not acknowledging him until she was satisfied. Then, her sharp hazel gaze focused on him with the same intensity as a hawk. “How’s he holding up?”

“About as well as can be expected. He wants me to train him in bladed weapons.” He understood where the desire came from, the urge to regain control over something—anything—within his life.

Perhaps it would help.

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Thirteen years…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Because To Target the Heart is on sale for 99c until the 17th, I am sharing a snippet from that this week. It’s also involved in a giveaway, which I’ve linked at the bottom.

Little lead-up. This comes the morning after Darshan initiated a somewhat public (and drunken) kiss before being lambasted by Hamish’s mother.

Thirteen years.

He still couldn’t quite get his head around that scenario. To have to pretend, to constrain his emotions, to keep any friendship with another man at a distance least the worst was thought of such closeness… Darshan had some experience with the latter, but the rest was foreign. Not once had he ever been made to feel that he needed to hide any part of his being from the world.

Punishment he understood—being in Tirglas was his punishment—but it was what he’d done and with whom, not that the act had been with a man.

He gnawed on the inside of his lip as a frustration-laced sigh whistled out his nose. Why—Gods, why?—couldn’t the man he found utterly irresistible have been someone who had not spent almost two-thirds of his adult life forced into celibacy by their wretched mother? Their damn queen, no less. With a head full of ancient scriptures and her intentions only on ensuring her brood filled the world with more of her clan. Disgusting.

I could walk away. That had been an option since he had first kissed the man. Not that he’d been able to shake Hamish from his dreams no matter how hard he tried. Were a few nights of pleasure worth dragging Hamish into a worse situation than the man was already in?

He wished he had an objective enough stance on the matter to answer that truthfully.

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!