This post is more of a placeholder than a real post. But, to make it worth your while…
The Curator’s Song, the sequel to The Lost Princess, is coming along very nicely. After throwing everything out and starting from scratch, I have a story that I’m really enjoying writing. Things are coming out about these two main characters, Rathe and Lily, that are making me very excited to see the moment they meet up with Doriel and Maple. In fact, writing this sequel is part of the reason I haven’t posted recently.
Given that writing a blog post takes up what little writing time I have, this may be the last post for a while.
So, to make up for that, I thought I’d put in a small snippet from the rough draft of The Curator’s Song. It’s small, but I like it and thought it might be nice to share, even if it’s raw draft.
The usual disclaimer applies, of course. This is raw draft. It is not edited. It also may not survive the editing/publishing process. Even though this is part of a raw draft, all rights are reserved.
Brief Background: Lily’s life is in danger and Rathe, a.k.a. The Blademaster, has decided to protect her and her sister temporarily. It’s become clear Lily needs to leave the city she grew up in, but she refuses to do so, even after a blatant attempt on her life, because Knocksure’s Hope is the only city she’s ever known. And Rathe isn’t happy with her refusal.
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She had never seen an elf irritated before. His frown was a slight downturn of the corners of his mouth, a small crease between his brows. And yet she felt the force of it as surely as if her father had started waving his arms and speaking in a somewhat raised voice. “There was a man on the corner after I first spoke with your father about the hurt book.”
Lily felt her skin go cold once more. “And now he’s in prison.”
“The one that killed your father is dead. He was killed in trying to kill you. The man on the corner was a different one.”
She stared at him. “Why have you not mentioned this before?”
“Because I was not certain your family was the target. And because your father was still alive when it happened.”
“And after?”
“There have been many things to think about. After.” An earnestness came into his face, relaxing the crease and lifting the corners back to their neutral position. “You need to leave. Let the human leaders decide who is and is not a threat. And if it is one of them, then it is very good for you to leave and soon. The man who calls himself your almost-Uncle?”
“Sir Claudio.” She could feel a headache starting and rubbed her forehead again.
“He is here. He stays downstairs because he says he is too loud and…I do not know the word, but he thinks he would be too much for your healing.”
“He’d be right,” she muttered.
And to her great surprise, the Blademaster smiled. “He is a very…big man.”
And now she laughed. “He is.”
“But he seems to have a good heart. He has discussed your leaving with Mrs. Apitalia. She will give you dresses and other things to help you on your journey.”
“It does no good to run if you don’t know who you’re running from.”
He leaned forward, close enough she could clearly see a sea of men armed with swords in his eyes. “It does no good to die in order to find that out. I could fight them. One by one, or more than that if you ask it of me. But I was asked to protect both of you. How easy it would be to split up,” and she could see that vast sea dividing, “and focus. One group on one of you, and the other on the other. I am only one. I cannot be divided.”
Copyright Ⓒ Amy Keeley, 2018
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Like what you see so far? Comment, and I may share more snippets as I write.
Either way, thanks for reading!
Amy Keeley 