It’s #BookQW and a ‘promise’ from the hero in my WIP makes all the difference. Come root for Salm, a wizard from The Witch of the Meadows who is getting his own story.
Here’s more of the scene:
She tried to pull her arm away, but Salm kissed it, then her lips. His movements were stilted, unusually hesitant for Salm. He was letting her decide and he drew back, but not far. She didn’t move, didn’t want to move, as the melancholy feelings whisked away, replaced by other emotions welling up, the warm flush of desire. I want this, but…so much else is wrong. Still, her arm snaked around him and she returned the kiss, nibbling at his bottom lip, pressing her body to his in that way that comforted her, made her feel all herself.
Then, before her mind could muddle more, before Salm could mold her body to his, she pulled back and tilted her forehead to his.
“I-um…”
He stroked her neck,fingers combing up into her hair and catching in her curls. “Tell me, please. I want to fix things between us.”
“I love the feelings you give me…” Then she couldn’t say more.
Finally, he quietly said, “I love the ones you give me.”
“I need the other parts of us being together to be right for me, too.”
“Like me not ordering you around.”
When she didn’t answer, he sighed. “I’ll work on them, I promise. But you’re gonna have to help me out here, Luna. I’m a fellow. I can be kinda wrapped in my own ideas, according to my sisters. I’ll do my best, if you give me a chance.”
She closed her eyes. He wasn’t treating this like a joke. He really was listening. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and straightened, putting a bit of space between them. “I appreciate that. I want to try.”
He smiled, a soft smile, not his outrageous grin. “Thank you. What first?”
She glanced around. “Not here. Not when I have a chance to look at Mother’s things without Pap knowing.” Her gaze landed on him again. “Do you mind?”
“As long as we’re talking, nay.”
Salm went to fetch the table, while she uncovered the desk. It was locked. The day bed was still made up with sheets and the star-pattered quilt Mother had made for it. She pressed the fabric to her nose, but it no longer held her perfume. She pulled herself away as Salm returned and set the table in place, refusing to look to the empty shelves where Mother’s sketch pads and completed drawings had been stored. Instead, she drifted to the equipment cabinet. It didn’t lock and everything was inside, the best she could recall.
“The eyepieces are here. We could still use the telescopes,” she murmured.
“That’d be brilliant,” Salm said in the same hushed voice. “I admit, the brass of the big ones appeals to me, but you said this little one is easier to use?”
She selected an eyepiece and inserted it, turning the set screw. “Let’s spy down the coast.”
He grinned, opening the door while she rolled it closer, removed the end cover and tilted the tube horizontal.
A swoosh sounded from inside.
“That’s not right.” She grimaced. “Hope it’s not a mouse nest.” She righted the tube again and together they peered inside.
“Paper.” He fitted his hand between the supports. “Sheets of paper. Must have been rolled up to get them in there.”
Luna clapped a hand to her mouth, tears welling as a long-forgotten afternoon flashed to mind. “They were,” she choked out, and he paused in wiggling his fingers to magically roll them. “It’s two of Mother’s drawings I hid playing a hide and seek game with her.”
I hope to have The Keepers of Kittiwake Point up within the year, as well as two other novels in The Windborne series. In the meantime, read the first book in the series, The Witch of the Meadows, the start of the journey of a generation of magic-wielders as they restore their connections to nature and community.
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