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 have more from The Merchant's Love for you today. I haven't written a holiday book yet, but The Merchant's Love begins in autumn and runs through the winter holidays in Tournai. I often call this book—the story of a bookish royal and the merchant who is besotted with him falling in love over books and baked goods—a warm hug in book form, so I thought I'd share some snippets from it. This snippet happens just a little while after last week's—Faelen and Maxen's plans to leave the Midwinter fair early have been foiled by the arrival of Faelen's twin, Alexander, (being overprotective) and their cousin and friend. So the group is now watching performances in the square. I went over the sentence limit—I'm sorry!
At the front of the line, they ordered the cider, and Maxen paid before Alexander could offer. They split the cups between them and worked their way through the thickening crowd. When they returned to the others, it was to find Faelen looking anxious and Meriall standing on a bench.
Maxen glanced up at her and then back at Faelen, frowning.
“She couldn’t see well enough,” Adora supplied, as if that explained everything. Adora came closer to relieve him of two of the cups, keeping one and handing the other up to Meriall. Maxen had meant to give one to Faelen, but Alexander was already doing that.
“Have we missed anything good?” Maxen asked, not really directing the question at anyone, but watching Faelen, trying to silently reassure him all was well. He absolutely would not complain about Alexander to Faelen, would not let any of his annoyance show. Maxen understood why Alexander felt the way he did, even if he wished he’d been straightforward with him.
“Just the jugglers,” Faelen said and smiled slightly.
“They’re still going,” Meriall added.
“Should you be up there? Etan won’t be happy with me if you fall.” Maxen said it with a smile, but he was mostly serious.
She laughed. “It’s a bench. I’m not standing on a roof. You’re not responsible for me anyway. I am.” A look of mischief came into her eyes. “Though Alexander brought us out here, so I think I’d blame him if anything happened.”
Alexander let out what could only be called an indignant squawk, and Faelen laughed, a delightful sound, full of mirth and a little teasing at his twin’s expense. Maxen smiled just hearing it. Faelen looked at him, the laughter in his eyes softening, blurring into something else, some quieter joy.
Maxen glanced up at her and then back at Faelen, frowning.
“She couldn’t see well enough,” Adora supplied, as if that explained everything. Adora came closer to relieve him of two of the cups, keeping one and handing the other up to Meriall. Maxen had meant to give one to Faelen, but Alexander was already doing that.
“Have we missed anything good?” Maxen asked, not really directing the question at anyone, but watching Faelen, trying to silently reassure him all was well. He absolutely would not complain about Alexander to Faelen, would not let any of his annoyance show. Maxen understood why Alexander felt the way he did, even if he wished he’d been straightforward with him.
“Just the jugglers,” Faelen said and smiled slightly.
“They’re still going,” Meriall added.
“Should you be up there? Etan won’t be happy with me if you fall.” Maxen said it with a smile, but he was mostly serious.
She laughed. “It’s a bench. I’m not standing on a roof. You’re not responsible for me anyway. I am.” A look of mischief came into her eyes. “Though Alexander brought us out here, so I think I’d blame him if anything happened.”
Alexander let out what could only be called an indignant squawk, and Faelen laughed, a delightful sound, full of mirth and a little teasing at his twin’s expense. Maxen smiled just hearing it. Faelen looked at him, the laughter in his eyes softening, blurring into something else, some quieter joy.
You can find out more about The Merchant's Love over here, and you can get it and my other books 40% off with coupon code NARRATIVE40 at NineStar Press through December 18th. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're all staying safe and well!
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