Aldrea Alien's Blog, page 9

Rainbow Snippets: A dangerous choice

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 last week’s snippet…

He wouldn’t bother with waking Authril either. That way, he could keep an eye on both Dylan and the warrior. The last thing any of them needed was for the woman’s callous words to incense the spellster.

Dylan made for his tent, pausing at the entrance. “Thank you. For letting me vent and…” One corner of his mouth lifted in a rueful smile. “It helped.”

Tracker bowed his head in acknowledgement. “Rest, my dear man. It is a long way to Whitemeadow.” By then, he would’ve found the words to sway Dylan into leaving Demarn.

It would be dangerous. He had known that from the moment he’d made his decision. It wouldn’t be the first time he had helped spellsters escape Demarn, even if they’d been children.

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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: A sleepless rite of passage

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 last week’s snippet…

Their journey back to the tents slipped back into silence, a lighter kind than when they’d begun. They circled the campsite until their path returned them to the tents. Nothing had changed beyond the fire having burnt itself out. That was to be expected.

Tracker’s gaze drifted to his own tent. Given that he hadn’t slept for more than a handful of hours beneath the canvas tonight, the time taken to pitch it seemed a waste. “I know you may not get any rest at all, but you should at least attempt sleep, yes? I will take your turn on watch tonight.” Doing so wouldn’t grant the man more than the scant two hours he would’ve spent alone out here, but there was nothing else to offer. Getting by on little sleep was practically a rite of passage for hounds.

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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: Attempted humour

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 last week’s snippet…

“Come.” He gestured for the spellster to continue walking. “We have the rest of the perimeter to check.”

“You mean this wasn’t a ploy to get me alone and feel me up?” The light-hearted lilt in his voice and the grin he flashed—although wobbly on the edges, carried an echo of the playfulness he had displayed before reaching the tower—took the edge off the words.

Tracker answered the attempt at humour with a smile of his own. “Even if I somehow deemed the timing as appropriate, I would hardly need to bring you out here for such fun. I told you, I enjoy the company.” He took up Dylan’s hand, linking their fingers without a twitch of rejection. “But we have been gone a while, we should keep moving.”

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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: Drawing scorn

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 last week’s snippet…

It was a while before the man unwound himself. He dried his face, giving a self-conscious little chuckle. “I really have to stop crying all over you.”

“I do not mind.”

Dylan ducked his head, the embarrassment behind his smile a little more familiar.

“But do me a favour and do not take our dear warrior’s words to heart. She may try to bury it deep within, but she still grieves for her fallen company.” Tracker had seen that look too many times to mistake the emotion behind it. “Until she acknowledges that pain, it will continue to fester. That you allow yourself to freely feel is likely what draws her scorn.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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: A comforting embrace

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 last week’s snippet…

He drew the spellster into his arms, sensing the ghosts of pure magic crackle into something tangible as Dylan stiffened in his grasp, the flash briefer than a lightning strike.

With his ear pressed to the man’s chest, he heard the man’s heart thumping at a tempo that suggested Dylan had spent the day sprinting down the road rather than the steady pace they’d taken through the forest. “I cannot tell you it will get better, that is not something anyone can judge for you. But I am here if you need me, in whatever capacity that may be.” He didn’t know if his presence alone would be enough to help, but he hoped so.

The man’s heartbeat slowly calmed as Tracker talked. Dylan sagged into the embrace, his arms awkwardly wrapping around Tracker’s shoulders, his cheek resting atop Tracker’s head. Wetness seeped into his scalp. He ignored it and tightened his grip to match Dylan’s.

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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: Helpless

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 last week’s snippet…

“I just feel…” Dylan’s breath came out in one shuddering exhale. “I don’t know what.”

“Helpless? Hopeless?”

“Like no matter how hard I try, I’m utterly useless in keeping all the terrible things from happening.”

Tracker laid a hand on Dylan’s forearm. Even through the layers of his clothes, the man’s shaking was palpable. “There was no way you could have predicted what happened. Not the ambush, not the army, not… any other outcome.”

Dylan stared down at his hands. Unformed magic danced around his fingertips like a rolling fog. “I can’t stop thinking I should’ve done more, should’ve been more, then maybe they’d be alive.”

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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: Unknown feelings

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 last week’s snippet of where Dylan asked “My choices are responsible for my friends dying?”…

“I did not say that and this is the last time you will speak such a lie. No choice you could possibly make would have led to what happened. That blame lies squarely on another’s shoulders.” Who had made that decision was an answer Tracker didn’t currently possess, but he was going to find out. And once he did, not a thing would stop him from dealing out the ultimate consequence. “As for why you were spared…” He inhaled, unthinkingly breathing in the scent of magic emanating from the man. The wisps of power might have died down, but that storm-cloud aroma remained a beacon regardless. “I would say your strength played no small part there.”

Dylan’s face scrunched in confusion. “My strength? I could be the strongest spellster in the world and it wouldn’t… I couldn’t…” He ran a hand through his hair, further upsetting the already messy array. “I just feel…” His breath came out in one shuddering exhale. “I don’t know what.”

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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: Our choice

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 last week’s snippet of Tracker musing over the day he was supposed to die…

And if he had died? What would it have been altered? Which lives would’ve been saved or lost? The spellster protected by an entire mercenary company? The elven woman who had spent decades feeding on the nearby village? The countless young spellsters and would-be hounds he had aided in smuggling into Dvärghem?

And Dylan’s fate?

He bumped the spellster’s arm with a shoulder, hoping that gentle contact was enough to get the man’s attention without startling him. “I am no priest, but if I remember my childhood teachings correctly, the gods do not control how our lives play out, they merely offer alternative paths. Everything else is our choice.”

Dylan remained silent for some time. At first, Tracker thought he hadn’t been heard, then the man spoke.

“My choices are responsible for my friends dying?”

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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: Promblematic survival

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 last week’s snippet of Tracker musing over the day he was supposed to die…

A surprising outcome. That was what their mistress had called his survival. Unexpected and problematic. She had him sent away. Officially, to be trained in seduction, but he knew it was to have little hopes like love and family literally screwed out of him.

He’d learnt different lessons. Seduction, yes—difficult not to when it was a requirement to remain working in the brothel’s upper tiers—but also compassion. They couldn’t replace the family he had lost to Hunk’s betrayal, but The Gilded Lily had offered a type of kinship. Without it, he wasn’t certain he would’ve survived the first year.

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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: Why?

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 last week’s snippet…

“I thought I knew my role in the world,” Dylan confessed. “Thought I had survived the ambush because it was my fate to return home, but there’s nothing left. No home. No friends. No life. So… why was I spared?”

Why? Tracker knew that question well. The memory of it lay cloaked in the gloom of the Pit, where a sallow flickering light danced upon broken and battered bodies. Even after all these years, he recalled how thickly the tang of human blood sat on his tongue. How the only sounds over his ragged breath were the moans of air escaping the dead, yet the loudest stunned silence of the witnesses screamed the loudest, echoing in his mind for years after.

The knowledge that he should’ve been the one to die that day.

I’ll see you all with more from In Love and Death next week. 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!