Category: The Envoy's Honor

Rainbow Snippets November 4-5

11/5/2023

The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ.

This month, I decided to share some snippets from The Envoy's Honor because it has an anniversary coming up soon. The Envoy's Honor is an adversaries to lovers dragon shifter romance in my Chronicle of Tournai series. Dragon shifter Kirill is an envoy sent with a delegation to Tournai to ensure that his people and their secret (about being dragon shifters) are safe, and Griffen is a diplomat trying to prove his worth and protect his family. From the beginning, they clash and have moments of connection, all with attraction simmering beneath. But there's a lot more going on that they're unaware of at first, and when someone is murdered, they decide to investigate together (because they know they didn't do it...because they were arguing and kissing in the garden at the time...). Here's a snippet in Griffen's point of view early on in the book.

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Rainbow Snippets November 19-20

11/20/2022

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It's weekend, and time for more Rainbow Snippets! The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ.

I've switched over to The Envoy's Honor for a bit, sharing snippets to celebrate its second birthday this past week. In The Envoy's Honor, a delegation of dragon shifters arrive in Tournai, ostensibly to ascertain that the secret of the existence of dragon shifters is not at risk because a dragon shifter will be marrying into Tournai's extended royal family. Griffen is not only a diplomat and negotiator for the crown, but also the brother of the man marrying the dragon shifter who started the whole situation. He's trying to protect both his country and his family, but Kirill, one of the dragon shifter envoys, is trying to protect the existence of his people. As they try to work the conflict out—and inadvisably fall for each other—a murder and the discovery of a treasonous plot further complicate the situation. This snippet is another conversation between Kirill and Romilly, but this time they're talking about an encounter between Kirill and Griffen. Romilly, of course, has opinions.

“Nothing to talk about.” But he saw no reason not to admit it to his friend. “Yes, we’re attracted to each other. Yes, we’ve seen each other outside these meetings. But nothing has happened. Mostly, we make polite small talk while hoping to pick up some information from each other.”

“Mostly?” Romilly was too sharp for their own good--or perhaps Kirill’s.

“Last time, we had a small disagreement—over Ederic’s behavior.”

Romilly shrugged gracefully. “Which is abominable. I assume Lord Griffen believes so as well, but I know you couldn’t have come out and said so. What happened?”

“Nothing. I left. But if I hadn’t, we might’ve kissed.” He’d spent too long obsessing over what had happened. He couldn’t remember when or why he’d put a hand on Griffen, couldn’t remember which of them had stepped so close to the other. Or had they both moved closer to each other?

“Really?” Romilly’s large eyes betrayed their surprise. “Why didn’t you?”

“Romilly.” He leveled a repressive look at his friend. “It would hardly have been appropriate.”

Another shrug. “Maybe not, but you might have enjoyed yourself.”

You can find more about The Envoy's Honor here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're all staying safe and well.

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Rainbow Snippets November 12-13

11/13/2022

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It's weekend, and time for more Rainbow Snippets! The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ.

I've switched over to The Envoy's Honor for a bit, sharing snippets to celebrate its second birthday this past week. In The Envoy's Honor, a delegation of dragon shifters arrive in Tournai, ostensibly to ascertain that the secret of the existence of dragon shifters is not at risk because a dragon shifter will be marrying into Tournai's extended royal family. Griffen is not only a diplomat and negotiator for the crown, but also the brother of the man marrying the dragon shifter who started the whole situation. He's trying to protect both his country and his family, but Kirill, one of the dragon shifter envoys, is trying to protect the existence of his people. As they try to work the conflict out—and inadvisably fall for each other—a murder and the discovery of a treasonous plot further complicate the situation. In this snippet, Kirill and Romilly, another of the dragon shifters, reflect on how poorly the beginning of talks are going, all due to one of their own.

When they reached the guest wing, Ederic strode toward his rooms, continuing to talk at Byram and Stasia who followed in his wake. With Ederic ignoring the rest of them, they dispersed without a word. Romilly followed Kirill into his sitting room and closed the door behind them. Romilly walked directly to the liquor cabinet without a word. Kirill didn’t blame them--Ederic was enough to drive anyone to drink--but if this became a habit every time they had to deal with him, they were going to spend most of their stay in Tournai at some level of inebriation.

Romilly turned, a glass of wine in each hand. The sunlight streaming through the window made their red hair appear to be aflame. The rich hue of their emerald-green jacket and pants had already heightened their dramatic coloring even without the light, but with it, Romilly glowed. If Ederic hadn’t been drawing everyone’s attention in the palace corridors with his ire, Romilly would have drawn a very different sort.

“Here you are.” Romilly handed him one of the glasses and toasted him with a wry twist of their lips with the other.

Kirill huffed out a breath but returned the gesture. “What do you think?”

“The wine is good,” Romilly said. “It’s a nice crisp white. The meeting was a disaster.”

Find out more about The Envoy's Honor here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're staying safe and well!

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Rainbow Snippets April 16-17

4/16/2022

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He had no idea where he was going once he started walking. While he’d spent some time staring out of his window at the garden in the early morning light, he hadn’t tried to understand how it was laid out or to plot out routes through the maze of paths. So instead of attempting to find his way anywhere in particular, he set off wandering. The neatly maintained paths led him deeper into lush gardens in the first bloom of spring. A riot of colorful, fragrant flowers filled flowerbeds. Neatly trimmed hedges lined paths and separated gardens. Fanciful statues peeked from behind trees and stood in the center of burbling fountains. None of it was gaudy or ostentatious--all of it elegant and beautiful. And serene in the hush of early morning.

You can find more about The Envoy's Honor here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're staying safe and well!

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Rainbow Snippets April 2-3

4/3/2022

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He should go home, and he’d known it even before he saw Kirill sitting on a bench surrounded by blue irises--before the sight of him there in the sunshine, surrounded by flowers, took his breath. Kirill was alone, but he hadn’t been for long--Romilly was walking away from him, back toward the guest wing of the palace. Neither of them had noticed Griffen, and he had a moment to decide whether he should turn and walk away before Kirill did. Well, if he wanted to be sensible, he absolutely should walk away, and he should be sensible.

He wasn’t going to be sensible.

You can find more about The Envoy's Honor here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're staying safe and well!

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Rainbow Awards Runner-Up

12/7/2021

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The Envoy's Honor won runner-up in two categories in this year's Rainbow Awards: Best Bisexual Book and Bisexual Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. I was excited just to have received an honorable mention and was just thrilled and honored to learn of the runner-up awards tonight! Here's what was said by judges about The Envoy's Honor: "Wonderful fantasy world building and characters. The author weaves reality into an alternate world of magic and dragons, and course, love. Kirill and Griffen, and indeed all the characters involved in this slow burn romance are well drawn and likeable and deserve their HEA." Those words just made my day! If you'd like to learn more about The Envoy's Honor, you can do that over here.

Congratulations to all the winners, runners-up, and honorable mentions in the Rainbow Awards!

Quick edit: NineStar Press is discounting all their Rainbow Awards honorees 30% through the end of the year, so head over here to pick up The Envoy's Honor and lots of other great books!

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Rainbow Snippets November 13-14

11/13/2021

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“Do we need to fully trust each other for that?” Griffen asked finally. He ignored how little he wanted another meaningless affair or tumble with someone he didn’t know well, didn’t see a future with. He ignored how much he wanted more than he’d had in the past. Because he wanted to feel Kirill against him again more than anything at that moment.

“To kiss? Maybe not.” Did something wistful flit over Kirill’s face, or was it only a trick of the dim light? Griffen wanted to ask, to find out somehow what Kirill was feeling behind the mask he wore, but he couldn’t. Kirill had said he didn’t entirely trust Griffen. “Maybe not.”

Kirill went quiet again and watched Griffen for another moment. Then it seemed he came to some sort of decision. He stepped forward, closing the remaining distance between them. He hesitated a fraction of a second, as if checking to make certain Griffen wouldn’t object, and then brought his lips to Griffen’s.

You can find out more about The Envoy's Honor here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're all staying safe and well!

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Rainbow Snippets November 6-7

11/6/2021

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“I still don’t entirely trust you,” Kirill said abruptly.

The words hit Griffen with the force of a sharp blow, and he only just managed to keep himself from wincing. But was his reaction truly fair? Did he entirely trust Kirill? No...but he wanted to, and he wanted Kirill to trust him even more. Which was probably the most ridiculous part.

“I don’t entirely trust you either.”

Kirill didn’t flinch. In fact, he only nodded slightly, and Griffen expected him to turn and go right then, but he didn’t do that either.

“I shouldn’t want to kiss you again,” Kirill said.

“But you do.” Griffen didn’t make it a question. “I want to kiss you too.”

They stared at each other for another moment in the deepening shadows of the garden.

You can find out more about The Envoy's Honor here. Thanks for reading today and I hope you're all staying safe and well!

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Rainbow Snippets September 11-12

9/11/2021

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Another man who entered the room behind them with Ligeia on his arm wasn’t quite so emotionless. Something smoldered in his eyes, some emotion hastily banked.

But that wasn’t what made Kirill utterly freeze where he stood.

The man did that on his own.

He was watching Kirill, stare intense out of rich brown eyes. His bronze hair was thick and wavy, framing an incredibly handsome face of chiseled features. Kirill gritted his teeth. He’d never let it happen before and he could not afford to get turned around by a handsome face now of all times. He had no time for an affair on this trip and certainly not with someone connected with the royal palace--and to Corentin, too,considering this man’s close resemblance to the earl Corentin was going to marry.

You can find more about The Envoy's Honor here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're all staying safe and well.

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Rainbow Snippets June 26-27

6/26/2021

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Griffen’s day had been utterly normal--boring, even--until the dragons arrived.

The only mildly interesting thing that had happened was Bastien for once being convinced to attend a family dinner at the palace. Griffen didn’t delude himself into thinking his persuasion and prodding had anything to do with his older brother’s decision. No, Philip’s order had gotten Bastien and Corentin, the man he would soon marry, here. The prince rarely ordered his family about--and never in this type of situation, so Philip’s edict had probably been at least half joking--but Bastien was too dutiful to ignore it, despite his preference to be something of a hermit.

You can find more about The Envoy's Honor here. Until the end of the month, The Envoy's Honor and the rest of my books are 50% off at NineStar Press with code PRIDE2021. Don't miss out on a great sale!

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