Snippet Post 2

This is from The Serpent Sea, a sexy bit:


She landed neatly, her claws digging into the sand. Folding her wings, she started toward Moon, picking her way through the lilies. He shifted for her, though he was still standing in the water and it soaked his pants to the knees; his groundling skin was more sensitive and he liked to feel her scales against it.

She caught him around the waist, and he relaxed against her. Her teeth grazed his neck in affectionate greeting, and she asked, "Did you have any trouble flying?"

"No, my shoulder's fine." He was a little sore, but it was the welcome ache of unused muscles finally being pushed to work. He nuzzled her neck. "My back's fine, too."

"I'm tempted to find out for myself." Jade's growl had a warm tone to it. She rubbed her cheek against his. "But we can't afford the time."




and from The Gate of Gods, one of my favorite bits. This is a long snippet, because I like the whole sequence so much. There's a lot of stuff in this last novel of the trilogy that I had so much fun with and really loved writing. It's too bad the three books were too early for the steampunk surge.


Niles stood beside the table in his shirtsleeves, flipping through a book with an annoyed expression. Giaren sat in one of the chairs, writing in a notebook, and Nicholas was sitting on the edge of the work table, eating an apple. Beside him the sphere sat serenely quiet, not even spinning. Niles glanced up, took in her frazzled demeanor, and said in alarm, "Florian, what is it?"

Stepping into the room, Florian flinched as the ship's klaxon blared again from the loudspeaker not far above her head. She had assumed the figure on the stretcher was Nicholas, but Ixion must have done whatever he meant to do to someone else first. "Nicholas, Ixion knows I told you about what he said to me--"

"Said what?" Niles demanded. "What did he say-- Wait, when did you see Ixion? He's supposed to be under guard--"

"He's been slipping past his guards and running around the ship at night," Florian told him impatiently. "But Nicholas, he said he'd take care of you."

Nicholas nodded, imperturbable. "Good. You found him in my cabin?"

She blinked. "Yes. But--" The telephone on the desk interrupted with a shrill ring and Giaren moved hurriedly to answer it. He listened for a moment, an expression of increasing consternation on his face. He turned, covering the receiver, and said urgently, "It's Colonel Averi. He says Lord Chandre's been injured-- He's not clear on specifics but he says it's obvious it's a sorcerous attack."

Niles frowned in confusion. "What sort of sorcerous attack?"

Florian's jaw dropped as the light dawned. She stared at Nicholas in horror. "You didn't."

"Did what?" Nicholas lifted a sardonic brow. He set the apple core on the coffee tray and dusted his hands. "I believe you'll find Ixion used strands of Chandre's hair, taken from a brush or comb on his dressing table. I talked to Giliead about Ixion, back in Capistown. All of Ixion's favorite transformation spells for people who inconvenience him use hair from the victim."

Florian just stared at him. She had seen Nicholas go into Chandre's rooms. He took the hair from Chandre's brush and planted it in his own room, then antagonized Ixion. So Ixion took it, thinking it was Nicholas'. "That's just--" She couldn't think of the right word.

"Oh, God." Niles shut the book, looking appalled. "What did he do to Lord Chandre?"

"What have you done?" Ixion's voice, breathy with rage, echoed the question right next to Florian's ear. With a yelp she spun around, backing away.

"Funny, I was going to ask you that." Nicholas sounded unperturbed, but he slipped off the desk, facing Ixion. Florian darted a look at Niles, who stood calmly, the book still in his hands, watching Ixion. Giaren, she saw with relief, had simply removed his hand from the telephone receiver, so Colonel Averi, hopefully still on the wire, could hear everything.

While Ixion's gaze was locked on Nicholas, Florian put a hand in her pocket, twisted the foil off one of the turnbacks and palmed it as she pulled her hand out. Let this work the way it's supposed to, please, she thought fervently, not certain who she was appealing to.

"You tricked me," Ixion's voice was a low growl, his face twisted with fury. He took a step into the room and the telephone wire suddenly sparked and burst into flame. Giaren dropped the receiver with a gasp and gripped his hand, grimacing in pain. "You foreign motherless bastards tricked me. How dare you--"

Florian used the opportunity to clap a hand over her mouth, apparently in horror, and popped the turnback in. Swallowing it was unexpectedly difficult and it scraped her throat painfully but after a moment of struggle she got it down. Don't cough, don't cough, she begged herself silently.

"How dare I?" Nicholas said mockingly, stepping away from the table. "It was easy. You fooled yourself." He added, as if it had just occurred to him, "Having your head cut off must not be very conducive to constructive thought."

"Let's see how you like it," Ixion snarled, lifting a hand. But Niles struck first.

Florian staggered backward, shoved by an invisible force, buffeted until she tumbled over the chair behind her. She landed hard, pushing herself awkwardly into a sitting position. She saw Nicholas thrown back against the table and slammed into the hearth, that Giaren lay on the floor and Niles reeled against the table, teeth gritted, face red with the effort of keeping on his feet. Ixion staggered back and gripped the doorframe to support himself.

Florian took a gasping breath, suddenly aware the air had been sucked right out of her lungs and the room was freezing cold. She knew what had happened: a flurry of spells and counterspells from Niles and Ixion had charged the ether in the air, temporarily giving it a physical presence. If Ixion and Niles were both incapacitated....

Then Ixion shoved himself free of the doorway and pointed toward Nicholas, who was still struggling to stand.

Florian gasped, scrambled forward, and threw herself in front of Nicholas. She heard someone shout in horror and felt the spell hit like a hard blow to her chest, knocking her back so she sat down hard on the floor. She felt the turnback move in her stomach, a weird sensation that made her yelp. Something formed in the air just in front of her, made out of the gathered force of the spell. For a heartbeat she saw an impossible creature with no head and several gaping maws, writhing in midair, flailing with far too many clawed hands. Then it flung itself back toward Ixion.

His shocked expression as it shot toward him made it all worthwhile.

The spell struck him with full force, slamming him back into the table, jarring it backward on the floor, spilling and breaking bottles and jars, sending papers flying. The sphere shivered, spinning like a top. Ixion reeled across the table, gasping for air, red suffusing his face. He struggled, clawing at his throat, and Florian felt a confused surge of triumph and horror. He did this to himself, she thought, he chose the spell, not-- Gathering himself, Ixion shook his head violently, pushing up off the table, taking deep breaths. The red color faded from his face as he leaned over, spitting out something dark that hit the floor and steamed like hot tar.

Ixion straightened up, wiped his mouth off on his sleeve. He smiled grimly at Florian. "Why flower, I didn't think you had it in you. Too bad I'll have to rip it right out."

Oh, hell. Desperate, Florian looked around, spotting Nicholas' pistol on the floor. Nicholas was just pushing himself up, shaking his head, still dazed. She stretched, grabbing for the gun.

Ixion turned and snatched up the sphere, lifted it even as it spun and threw off sparks in a paroxysm of rage. He whispered a word and cracks shot across the tarnished copper surface. It spun faster and Florian could see light streaming through the metal. She cried out, lurching forward, but light and sound coalesced into an ear-shattering crack and Ixion's hand suddenly held a steaming collection of metal fragments, broken wheels and gears.

Breathing hard, Ixion turned his hand, letting the fragments trickle out and fall scattered to the floor. He looked at her, eyes still furious. "Now what will you do?"

Staring past him, Florian barely heard. There was a man standing framed in the doorway behind Ixion. He was tall and slender, dressed in a somewhat grubby brown sweater and light-colored canvas pants. He had white hair, long enough to just brush his collar and too wispy and soft to be the white of age. His eyes were a soft blue that looked violet in this light.

He caught her eye and winked. "Ack," Florian managed, the most coherent noise she was capable of at the moment.

Ixion must have read her face. He twisted around, staring. The man fixed his gaze on him, his eyes hardening, his smile taking on an edge of contempt. He looked at the broken metal fragments still clutched in Ixion's hand and said, "Oh, it's far too late for that."

Ixion cocked his head, fascinated. "So you've come out of hiding."

The man didn't move. He said, "It's the pettiness that always surprises me. You would think the powerful would have the luxury of not taking offense."

Florian felt a surge of etheric energy that sucked any remaining warmth out of the room and made the electric lights flicker. Ixion's eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to the floor, banging his head on the table on the way down. He sprawled limply on the floor, unmoving.

Florian looked toward the doorway again, but Arisilde was gone. The dank cold in the room made her shiver. "Did I see-- Was that really--"

Niles pushed a broken chair away, managing to struggle to his feet. A cut on his forehead was bleeding freely but he threw a sharp look at Nicholas, saying, "Was it him, Valiarde?"

"Yes." Nicholas stumbled to his feet. "He looked exactly as I last saw him, when I left him on the island." She could tell by the tightness in his face and the way he kept looking away that he was fighting an uncharacteristic surge of emotion. "I thought for a moment-- But when he disappeared, it was obvious I was looking at a ghost."

"A very powerful ghost," Niles added grimly, going to help Giaren extricate himself from a shattered side table.