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.
In April, I'm sharing snippets from The Artist's Masquerade. The Artist's Masquerade is my second book, published back in 2015 (and rereleased in 2020 with its pretty new cover). This book is the story of Cathal, a royal duke's heir who has spent his entire life doing what is expected of him by his father, putting aside his own needs and wants to do so. When his father tells him that he has to marry—and that his father has chosen his bride for him—Cathal goes along with it but then finds himself far more fascinated by his intended's companion, Flavia. What Cathal doesn't know is that Flavia is in reality Flavian, an artist in disguise and on the run from a bad situation in his home country. His friend—Cathal's intended bride—came up with the ruse to disguise him as her companion and smuggle him out of the country so he can disappear into a new life. Only everything doesn't quite go as planned, and Flavian finds himself trapped in his role and pulled into intrigue. I'm jumping in at the beginning of Chapter 7 with Flavian and Cathal's first kiss. Cathal doesn't know Flavian's real identity yet, but he soon will. I'm picking up after last week's snippet.
“I’m...Flavian. I’m no one, no one important.” Flavian stumbled over the words. Cathal’s face was dark with anger, his eyes implacable and cold.
“If you’re no one, why are you in the palace disguised as a woman? What are you doing here?”
Flavian stared at Cathal before Cathal’s hands flexing on his arms, giving him a small shake, shocked him out of his stupor. “Nothing. I don’t even want to be here. I just wanted to leave Ardunn. I’ll leave, right now. Just let me go.”
He was horrified to find himself practically begging, but he couldn’t take the words back, and he wouldn’t want to if they convinced Cathal not to send him back to Ardunn. But Cathal only stared at him for long moments before stepping back and pushing Flavian into a chair.
“Stay there. I’ll be back shortly.” Cathal turned on his heel and left the suite, closing the door behind him with snap.
You can find more about The Artist's Masquerade here. Thanks for reading!
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