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'm finishing out May with a couple more 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 picked up directly after last weekend's snippet (and I'm very sorry this is too long!).
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'm finishing out May with a couple more 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 picked up directly after last weekend's snippet (and I'm very sorry this is too long!).
Flavian watched him steadily for several moments this time, as if deciding whether to answer Cathal’s question. Then he sighed and spoke, each word sounding as if it was dragged from him. “The most important reason...loving another man, preferring male lovers...is illegal in the empire, punishable by imprisonment or even death. I prefer men. Icouldn’t stay, especially when my father decided to send me to the army, where I probably would have ended up killed anyway, rather than keep me at home and wait for someone to find out.”
“So why not just leave? Why the disguise?”
“Because if they find me, they can drag me back. I’m not of age.” Fear was concealed poorly in his large eyes.
Cathal studied Flavian. He had to be over the age of majority, or he was far younger than he looked. “You have to have attained your majority already.”
Flavian shook his head. “Not in Ardunn. The emperor changed the age of majority for men to thirty. I have several years to go.
Cathal hadn’t known, but then there had been a lot of changes during the current emperor’s years of conquest and subjugation that probably weren’t well-known outside the empire.
“I can’t go back,” Flavian continued, his voice vibrating with suppressed emotion. “I won’t. I came here to get away, to start a new life. To be free of the empire. I never intended for this ridiculous act to last so long, and if I had my choice, it wouldn’t have. I would be myself again and not here in the palace. I would have found a place for myself in Jumelle, perhaps, or somewhere else. That’s what I want.”
“So why not just leave? Why the disguise?”
“Because if they find me, they can drag me back. I’m not of age.” Fear was concealed poorly in his large eyes.
Cathal studied Flavian. He had to be over the age of majority, or he was far younger than he looked. “You have to have attained your majority already.”
Flavian shook his head. “Not in Ardunn. The emperor changed the age of majority for men to thirty. I have several years to go.
Cathal hadn’t known, but then there had been a lot of changes during the current emperor’s years of conquest and subjugation that probably weren’t well-known outside the empire.
“I can’t go back,” Flavian continued, his voice vibrating with suppressed emotion. “I won’t. I came here to get away, to start a new life. To be free of the empire. I never intended for this ridiculous act to last so long, and if I had my choice, it wouldn’t have. I would be myself again and not here in the palace. I would have found a place for myself in Jumelle, perhaps, or somewhere else. That’s what I want.”
You can find more about The Artist's Masquerade here. Thanks for reading today!
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