Vixenwriter

Today’s theme is horror – so I thought I’d put up a scene from READING BETWEEN THE LINES when Haley finds her parents have been murdered…

READING BETWEEN THE LINES by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2008, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Samhain Publishing

Enraged, Conall burst through the sithein and sifted a spare two minutes after she’d gone. His father was with him. Riordan had already gone right after her, yelling at the guards to tell the others where they’d gone. He was going to kick her ass for breaking her promise to him.

She was risking her life for a stubbed toe or a…all thought froze when he landed in his in-laws’ living room and the scent of blood and dark magic assailed him.

Then he heard Haley, or what he thought was Haley. The sound sent a shiver up his spine. He ran toward it, skidding in a pool of blood where she knelt, his brother’s arms around her.

The scene made no sense to his eyes at first. In the background he heard Riordan speaking Gaelic to Haley, telling her to calm, to stop looking, to let him use his magic to help. She made small, feral sounds of grief that cut at him. He wanted to move to her but the energy in the room was thick and his eyes would not understand what he saw.

Blood everywhere. Signs of a struggle but it must have been fairly brief. What was that in the corner?

“In the name of all that is blessed, this is blasphemy. This…Riordan, get Haley out of here now!” Conall heard his father say it, felt his touch at his arm right as he figured out Ninane had done something to pull Haley’s parents apart so that nothing was recognizable. Dark spells etched the walls in blood. The taint of what had been done hung heavy. This was a violation of all their laws, of the laws of magic. Ninane had taken a step she could not move back from.

“I won’t leave!” Haley began to scream and it freed Conall from his horror as he rushed to her.

“We have to go, Haley. This is wrong. You are not safe here. Hear that? Aoife has sent people, my father has too. They have to clean it up. They will take care of your parents. I make my vow to you. Irish witch, you can’t help now. Please, please come away.” He kissed her softly, wanting to erase the devastation from her face.

“What is this?”

The crack of magic that came with the demand filled the room, biting his skin. Riordan paled as he and Conall shielded Haley between them. Conall turned to see Aoife but he’d never seen her this way.
Her hair, unbound and dark as night stood around her head, floating on her magic. She wore a breastplate, smeared in blood older than recorded human history. She was the warrior queen, manifested there.

“This cannot stand. She opened a gate and unleashed hell in this room.” Aoife’s voice had an eerie quality as her magic pushed the evil from the space. She was one of the oldest, one of the first, Conall wasn’t sure there were any around who could stand against her and he saw why.

“This is my fault. Don’t you see?” Haley’s voice was small, choked with emotion.

Aoife’s terrible rage ebbed away as the darkness fell from the space, leaving only sadness and desolation. She moved toward them and placed her lips to Haley’s forehead.

“Sleep and be dreamless, child. This is not your fault.”

Haley fought it, Conall saw how angry she was at having her will stolen but she couldn’t hold it off long and she slumped against him.

“I’ve sent people to Maeve’s. She’s alive but there was an attack on her house last night. She didn’t want to alarm anyone but they’d woven a spell, holding her there. They killed her animals, even her dog who’d been outside. She’d been trying to reach us or get out. Healers have taken her to her people where they can help her get her strength back. I’ve sent a demand to Dugan but haven’t heard as yet. We will avenge this, Conall. This kind of magic breaks our most basic laws and she’s taken human lives and left evidence of our existence.

“Take her home. She’ll be angry when she wakes up. Send for me and I’ll speak with her then. When Maeve feels up to it, she’ll come to Haley or, and you’re not going to like this part, she’ll go to her. Her people will want to avenge this. I advise you now to accept that and find a way to make it work.”

Conall remained silent. It was a battle he wasn’t going to think about right then. He nodded his thanks to Aoife, looked to his father and once around the room and he and Riordan sifted back to the sithein.

Haley woke up, confused and feeling like she’d been hit by an eighteen wheeler.

“Haley? Honey, how are you feeling?”

She turned her head to see Conall’s face and warmth filled her. Happiness. She loved that face, loved his voice.

But it fell away a moment later. When she saw his features, saw the concern there she began to remember.

Her hand moved to cover her mouth as bile rose. She scrambled out of bed and headed for the bathroom, Conall on her heels.

Afterward, he’d held her as he took a cool, wet washcloth to her face and neck, speaking soothingly in Gaelic to her.

The way Riordan had at her parents’ house.

Her knees buckled as it all came to her in vivid color. All reds and violent splashes. The remains of her mother and father. Not together, not right.

She shook her head as madness clawed at her. Her brain couldn’t accept it. It was wrong. What had done that to them? Strange sounds came from her. She wasn’t sure how she made them or how to stop.

“Haley, come back to me, Irish witch.”

Conall picked her up and settled them in bed, her body curled into his as he rocked her, smoothing a hand over her hair.

“You’ll do no good if you let yourself go. You have to hold on. For me. For you. For them. Fight it. I know it’s hard. I know. But don’t let her win.”

“Why, Conall? Why would she do that? What did she do to them?” The insanity within her eased back, but it still felt like broken glass shifting around in her belly.

“I don’t know. I wish I did. I wish there were answers, Haley, but there aren’t any. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“My grandmother!” She sat up on a gasp.

“She’s well. Aoife sent people to her the instant we learned about your parents. She’s with her tribe.” After a brief hesitation, he told her about the spell and the attempt on Maeve.

“Where are my parents? Or what’s left of them? I’ll need to deal with the police, won’t I? Their house. Their jobs and friends. What’s going to happen?” The enormity of what Ninane had done hit her. She’d exposed them all.

“Aoife and my father stayed behind. We’ve been exposed. They’ll have to fix it. Aoife used a great deal of magic to convince the authorities your parents died of carbon monoxide poisoning. You’ll need to go back and deal with them. For now, they’re under the belief you’re out of the country, out of contact but will get with them as soon as possible. Your grandmother has made arrangements to ship their bodies to Ireland.”

“I have to go to her. When will Dugan deliver Ninane to Aoife? Will you be the one to prosecute her?” If she stayed focused on tasks, the pain was just barely survivable.

He sighed. “Haley, Dugan won’t deliver Ninane. He’s refused. He says we have no proof it was her. He even blamed us saying we did it to put the blame on Ninane.”

“Well, so I imagine we’re at war now. I need to help. I’m sure Riordan will be someone in charge now. Your father too.”

He remained silent long enough for her to push away from him and see the look on his face.

“What is going on?”

“We’re not at war, Haley. Technically, Dugan is right. We don’t have the proof it was Ninane other than basic common sense. We’re working on the proof now. Aoife has magical scholars studying the marks on the walls. We’ll get the proof.”

“Are you telling me that fucking butcher who ripped my parents into pieces is going to get away with it? She’s free right now? I know it was her who attacked me. What about that? Or do I not matter at all?”

“You do matter, Haley. This will not go unavenged, I make my solemn vow to you.”

Haley turned to see Aoife standing in the doorway, looking very tired.

“So you said five months ago when Ninane tried to kill me. And yet, she was free enough to kill my parents and try to kill my grandmother.”

“I cannot just storm in and take her. Even after that attack. There are rules. I’m sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am but the rules keep us from war and they keep roughly a hundred thousand Fae from killing each other and humans too. I’ve demanded a trial. Dugan is dragging his feet. More now because he claims Ninane won’t get a fair trial with this incident being blamed on her.”

“Incident? My parents were in pieces! Their blood was everywhere. On the ceiling. What did she do to my mother to get her blood on the ceiling? I don’t care about your rules. I don’t care! You talk a good game and yet nothing has happened except I’m now without parents. Because of me. They’re dead because I came here.” Haley’s voice had reached screaming proportions, her head throbbed, her mouth tasted ashes, she felt nothing but rage.

“Sweetness, please calm down. You’re only going to make yourself sick.” Riordan came into the room, holding his hand out.

“But I’m alive to be sick. I’m alive here. Safe here. And my parents didn’t have that option. I chose you people over them and it got them killed.”

Aoife cocked her head. “I never had daughters. I have many nieces who I love very much. But you’re important to me, like a daughter. I feel your pain. If I could risk all the sitheins under my rule to avenge your loss I would. But my blood is in my vow to the treaty. It controls my magic, it controls the safety of every sithein and all her residents as well as the below where Dugan rules. The magic holds because it’s within us, within the ground, the mounds, the sky. If I break my vow without obeying the rules, it all crumbles and leaves everyone defenseless. We would not win even if I did break my vow. It would only speed our defeat and the Fae would have a king such as Dugan. If so, what happened to your parents would happen to millions of humans.”

Haley didn’t want to care about any of them. She didn’t want to wait, didn’t want to be patient.

Conall put his arms around her and she rested her head on his chest. “Haley, this is not your fault. Lady, how I wish I could make this better for you. I wish I could erase it and if it meant getting rid of our bond to save you from this, I would even though it would kill me to not have you. But that can’t happen. We can’t go back in time. You’re here with me and I love you with all that I am. Your parents loved you and they loved their life as humans. Your father gave that up knowingly and gifted his immortality to you. Don’t wish that away, it was his gift.”

This man touched her deeply. She’d associated her bond with him as a reason for their murder, she realized. It must have hurt him but he put her first instead of his own feelings. She didn’t wish away what she had with Conall. She couldn’t imagine how gray and flat her world would be without loving him. Even through the pain of her loss, she knew that.

“I love you, Conall. I may not deserve your love or this bond but I’d never wish it away. I’m too selfish. Promise me she won’t get away with this. Promise.”

He let out a long breath and hugged her tight. “I love you too, even when you’re stupid and say things like you don’t deserve our bond. And you have my promise. The promise of our tribe.”

When he said it, she believed it. Held on to it because it was all that held back the madness.

Conall paced as his wife stared at him through red-rimmed, determined eyes.

“Honey, I just think it’s better for you to stay here.”

He’d tried very hard to retain his calm as they argued. He knew she was upset and grief stricken. He wanted to respect that. He also knew she’d get combative if he raised his voice and he wasn’t mad anyway. Just desperate to make this all right for her, desperate to ease the pain from her face.

“I know you do. You’ve said it about three dozen times and while I admire your restraint and the bland way you’re keeping your voice lest I shatter into a million pieces and all, I’m going.”

“Haley, your grandmother is safe and she’ll come here, you know that. There’s no reason to go and expose yourself.”

“I’m not making an old woman come here after she’s had her last remaining child murdered. And they’re my people too, as was my father. I want to be with them right now. I dealt with the cops and my parents’ friends and employers. I have to plan a memorial there. People loved my parents, they should have a time when they can celebrate their lives. I’m even more determined to travel now. If I catch her outside her little zone of protection, I will kill her myself. Rules bedamned. I will kill her for what she’s done. I’m done hiding.”

“What does that mean?” He froze.

“It means I’m not going to hide in this hill anymore. I’m going out when I need to. I’m going to see my father’s people. I’m going to plan a memorial for my parents. I’m meeting with their attorney so I can arrange to have the house sold and the proceeds will go to set up a scholarship program at the Foundation in their names. I won’t let Ninane steal another second of my life.”

“Haley, you’re upset, I know that. But you saw what she did to them. She will do that to you if she gets the chance. I can’t…I can’t walk into a room and see you like that. Don’t do this to me. Please.” He got to his knees. “You want me to beg you? Because I will. Please don’t do this. I love you. I need you and I can’t survive without you.”

She moved slowly, kneeling on the carpet in front of him. “I don’t want you to beg. I know you’re freaked. I am too. This is a lot of tough talk on my part. But I can’t let her make me cower. I can’t. It’s like she’s here all the time, governing my every action. Our every action. Because she makes us afraid. Well, she did this to me when I was safe tucked up here. Don’t you see? There’s no difference to her. She’ll harm us no matter where we are.”

“It’s me she wants, Haley. I feel responsible. I am responsible. You’re mine to protect.”

“She does want you. But you’re mine. She can’t have you. And so you and I will work to take her down. The rules aren’t going to help here, you know that.”

What kind of crazy plan did his Irish witch have brewing in her head? “Haley, I don’t like that look on your face. You’re up to something.”

She fell back to the carpet and looked up at him. Lady, she was beautiful, even with dark circles beneath her eyes and the clear stamp of loss on her face.

“Help me forget, Conall. Put your hands on me and help me forget.”

He couldn’t resist. Didn’t want to resist. He always wanted her, but when he’d seen her kneeling, covered in blood, not knowing at first if it was hers, the need within him to touch her in the way only he could, had begun to build.

Be Sure to Visit the Other Snippeters!

Anya Bast
Eliza Gayle
Juliana Stone
Michelle Pillow
Lauren Dane
Moira Rogers
TJ Michaels
Jody Wallace
Ashley Ladd
Kelly Maher
Shelli Stevens
Shelley Munro
Mandy Roth
Mark Henry
Savannah Foley

BLAZE OF MEMORY

BERKLEY BOOKS

Out 3 November 2009

Nalini Singh returns to the Psy/Changeling world and its “breathtaking blend of passion, adventure, and the paranormal” as a woman without a past becomes the pawn of a man who controls her future…

Dev Santos discovers her unconscious and battered, with no memory of who she is. All she knows is that she’s dangerous. Charged with protecting his people’s most vulnerable secrets, Dev is duty-bound to eliminate all threats. It’s a task he’s never hesitated to complete…until he finds himself drawn to a woman who might yet prove the enemy’s most insidious weapon.

Stripped of her memories by a shadowy oppressor, and programmed to carry out cold-blooded murder, Katya Haas is fighting desperately for her sanity itself. Her only hope is Dev. But how can she expect to gain the trust of a man who could very well be her next target? For in this game, one must die…

Excerpt: http://www.nalinisingh.com/blaze.html

Reviews

“…When it comes to delivering stories that grab you by the throat and don’t let go, Singh is in a class by herself!” – Romantic Times

“…An outstanding November read!” ~ Fresh Fiction

“…BLAZE OF MEMORY had me in tears with the tenderness that Dev and Katya exposed in each other. This story adds immensely to the series…You will want to revisit this love story again and again.” - Romance Junkies

Contest

Leave a comment with your answer to the question below in the next 24 hours to go into the draw to win a signed copy of Branded By Fire, the previous book in the series. (Or if you prefer, you can choose a mass market copy of the An Enchanted Season anthology).

Excerpts:

http://www.nalinisingh.com/enchanted.html

http://www.nalinisingh.com/branded.html (warning, excerpt may singe your eyebrows off).

Contest Question: If you could be any romance novel heroine, which one would you choose?

From Shayla:

It’s FINALLY here!!! POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT should be available everywhere in both print and eBook format. I’m putting the blurb below…along with prizes.

Doomsday Brethren Series, Book 3 — Ice’s story
Publisher: Pocket Books
ISBN-10: 1416578463
ISBN-13: 9781416578468
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Romance
Release Date: October 27, 2009
Scroll down to read the first chapter!
Order: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders
Books-A-Million | Simon & Schuster | Indie Bound
Overstock | Target
Download eBook: Kindle | Barnes & Noble
Fictionwise | Sony |Simon & Schuster

An apocalypse approaches in the new novel from bestselling author Shayla Black’s electrifying Doomsday Brethren series, as a magical warrior and a spirited witch ignite a smoldering passion that could destroy them both.

As a mysterious dark cloud drains the life of her beloved brother, Doomsday Brethren leader Bram, Sabelle Rion can think of little else. Still, every time she meets Ice Rykard’s intense green gaze, her body aches with need for the sexy warrior. Their attraction is explosive, incredible—and forbidden. As dangerous as he is unpredictable, Ice is her brother’s sworn enemy. But as Bram weakens, a more sinister force is gaining power. Evil Mathias and his ruthless Anarki army are on a bloodthirsty hunt for the Doomsday Diary. Sabelle must guard the potent book with her life—and Ice vows to protect the beautiful witch with his. Duty demands that Sabelle deny her lover’s fiery call of possession and mate with a man who can sway the magical Council against the impending rebellion. With the fate of magickind hanging in the balance, will she forsake the burning desires she can’t ignore or turn her back on her people for the courageous man she can’t resist?

Reviews
Rated HOT! “The volatile emotions in this tale are truly combustible!” ~ RT Bookclub

“Captivating… POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT [is] a book you won’t want to miss.” ~ Romance Reviews Today

Recommended Read! “Page-turning magical suspense… Wring[s] emotion from every pore… leaves readers clamoring for more.” ~ Fallen Angels Reviews

“I could not stop reading. POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT is absolutely perfect.” ParaNormal Romance Reviews

“I love the angst and passion between Sabelle and Ice; it’s tangible and often breathtaking. Possess Me At Midnight is another exciting chapter in the Doomsday Brethren’s fight…” Joyfully Reviewed

“Totally rewarding and particularly satisfying.” Single Titles

To celebrate release day, I’m giving away a signed copy of TEMPT ME WITH DARKNESS and SEDUCE ME IN SHADOW, plus free reads from some favorite authors including Maya Banks, Gena Showalter, Sabrina Jeffries and others. 10 books in all! To register to win, SPREAD the word about POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT. Mention the book, series and release day (blurb appreciated but optional) on your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blog, message/bulletin boards, etc OR review the book on an online bookstore or personal blog. Comment here with the link and you’re registered to win. The winner will be drawn on 11/3.

Hope everyone enjoys the release!

Writing is hard. Oh sure some days it’s wonderful and fun. You sell books, you get great covers or reviews, this is awesome. But very often, people don’t realize that making the commitment to write daily is damned hard work. Writing a book takes time. It takes your time and it takes you saying, “not gonna watch television this week until I get my words for the day done.” It means you get up an hour earlier to finish if you didn’t the day before, or that you stay up later.

I get a lot of letters asking about my secret. I don’t have a secret. I work hard. There are no shortcuts. No magic beans. No secret formulas or guarantees. I sit my ass down and I write. That’s what I do and that’s what other authors do.

Talking about writing isn’t writing. I know a thousand people who talk about writing, have talked about writing for years and yet, they have no completed projects. They work on the first fifty pages of a story they’ve been writing for five years but have yet to finish a single book. They go to conferences and sometimes even get themselves a request for a full from an editor. But they don’t have a full because they talk about writing instead of actually writing.

Yes, this sounds harsh. I’m not trying to kill anyone’s dream. But writing is a job. A job. If you want it to be a hobby (and there’s not a damned thing wrong with that either, not everyone wants to be a professional author) then it doesn’t matter. But if you want to be a writer you have to actually write. You have to put it first when it’s supposed to be first. Whining to me or to your friends about how such and such has it so much easier because they don’t have a day job or whatever is worse than useless, it’s negative. You will never have any schedule but your own. Period. It doesn’t matter that author x has all day to write in a swanky office with assistants and snacks delivered every two hours. You’re not author x and you’re never going to be an author of any kind unless you stop making excuses and finish the damned book.

Sit. Your. Ass. Down. Write. There’s the secret.

I don’t have a muse. I’m too busy for one. But if you do, make sure it’s a muse that supports your writing on a regular basis. There are very few perfect writing moments, most of the time you make do, as you do with just about everything else in the world. If you have a muse, makes sure you never use that as an excuse to not write. I’m pretty over seeing people complain that they took the whole week off to play video games because their muse wasn’t cooperating. That’s not a muse to blame, that’s you. Write the damned book.

People get rejected every day. Established authors get rejected. It’s a fact of this business. But they’re established because they write the damned book. People sell books every day too. It can happen. It does happen – Ann Aguirre just sold her first YA yesterday. A book she wrote in two weeks, LOL. This happens because she sat down, turned off the internet and wrote. And then wrote some more. And some more after that. I look at the successful authors and one thing runs between them – they do the work. I’ve never heard Megan Hart complain about the muse (and believe me, we’ve talked about everything under the sun, LOL). I’ve never heard Anya Bast or Cynthia Eden complain about anyone else’s schedule or timeline. Jaci Burton? She’s a machine. She writes because it’s her job and she does a great one.

I get asked for advice a lot – there’s no one true way. Some people outline, some don’t. Some do timed bursts of writing, some don’t. Some take the weekends off, some write three days a week, some use storyboarding, you get the idea. But the one thing successful authors have in common is that they write the book. It’s their job and they treat it like one. It can be a fun job, a job you love more than anything, but if you can’t give it priority when it needs priority, you’re not doing yourself any favors.

Have ten minutes a day? Use it to write. Have to sit in the carpool line? Bring a notebook or a notebook computer. I have a comp book I carry with me all the time. I buy comp books in bulk because they’re easy to carry, small enough to tuck into a bag and cheap. This is just me, you may need cards or time to plot or whatever. The point is, sometimes when life crowds in, you must push back, even if it’s ten minutes a day. Ten minutes a day will get the book finished. Stop worrying that your buddy in your local chapter writes 3k a day. If you write slower, own it.

Own it. Own the very true fact that finishing a book is one of the best feelings on earth. Selling it is even better, LOL. But you can’t sell it if you don’t finish it. Contests are fine and good if you have the extra time. But winning the XYZ chapter’s best opening scene won’t finish your book. If you do NaNo this year, don’t quit after the first week. Don’t quit after the challenge ends either. Now you have to edit (and remember that most books that sell to NY are longer than 50K so you may have to expand). Use NaNo or whatever challenge you enter to get in the habit of writing regularly. Keep that habit.

Writing isn’t a competition, it’s a job. Use the challenges to hone your skills, not as an excuse not to finish, not as an excuse not to write until the start date, and not as a way to compare yourself to anyone else and use that as a reason to quit. You can’t finish if you quit. Power through. Finish the book and let that be your award. Then open a new document and start the next project. And so on.

To everyone entering contests and challenges, I wish you all good luck and look forward to congratulating you all when you finish successfully!

First off – I’ve contracted the follow up to Trinity with Samhain! I have NO idea what to call it at this point, it had been Hunted but as it always seems to be with my title luck, there’s already a book called Hunted at Samhain so I must come up with a new one, LOL.

This book will be out in July of next year and will feature Kendra – Renee’s sister and Max de La Vega – Galen’s brother. I’m very excited about it, and to work with Anne Scott, my new editor.

Also learned today that Inside Out, my next contemporary with Berkley, will be out in November of next year. So Coming Undone (Brody’s book) in January, Insatiable (Daniel’s story and the first in the Phantom Corps mini series set in my Federation Chronicles world) in July and Inside Out (Cope’s book) will be November.

Add to it whatever this follow up to Trinity will be called in July and the print version of Trinity in September and I’ve got a busy 2010 ahead of me!

This is such a good season for books! Moira Rogers’ Sanctuary’s Price and Vivian Arend’s Wolf Flight are out today from Samhain. These three ladies are names to watch!

Congrats to Ann Aguirre for a fabulous deal announcement for her YA sale of Razorland!

Congratulations to everyone who has great news today!

Sometimes as a writer, it’s easy to be negative. It’s easy to let the tide of bad news, of rejection, of endless wait times to hear back on projects you or your agent has pitched – all that stuff, get to you. There are days when I read a review that can make me totally miserable, even when I get two really good ones the same day. There are times I wonder why the heck I’ve chosen a path that involves so much exposure to criticism, LOL. It can get you down, no matter how positive a person you are – everyone has a limit to what they can take.

I’ve noticed, over the years, that some can shake it after allowing for a brief wallow, while others wear negativity and bitterness like a scarf or piece of jewelry.

I’m not pollyanna, I promise. This business gets me down too. Earlier this year I was incredibly unhappy and frustrated with the pace of progress with my writing. It’s easy to let that affect your writing, your pace, your schedule.

At the same time, it’s like the flu – when you wear your bitterness like skin, you infect everyone you touch. Bitterness and negativity do not solve anything. They don’t make things better, in fact, they make them worse not only for you, but for everyone around you.

For instance, on a loop I used to enjoy quite a bit, there’s now a group of authors who simply hate everything. One hates agents, one hates ebooks, one hates the biz in general. So when any negative spin on any subject come up, they’re on it, responding to it one by one until the entire loop drips with negativity. It’s turned a pretty interesting discussion loop into a loop I avoid because I can’t take hearing Author A complain bitterly about agents one more second. I don’t want to infect my day when Author B starts to complain that digital publishing is the reason for piracy. I don’t want a snootfull of toxic, nasty complaints every damned time I turn the computer on.

In the end, if you hate agents, don’t have one. But please don’t assume your perspective is the only one. Also, please don’t assume that spilling the poisonous hate you feel for agents all over everyone else actually *solves* anything. It does not. In the end, if you hate digital publishing, good luck on that – it’s unavoidable, even for NY these days, but you know, if you feel that strongly, I do wish you and your agent luck on keeping it out of your contract. If you hate Facebook, stay off it. If you hate Twitter, stay off it. If you hate blogs, don’t have one, etc.

Bitterness and Negativity are absolutely useless – in an active sense. It travels from your mouth or keyboard to everyone in your vicinity until it totally turns a group toxic and that’s fucked up and selfish. Deal with your shit, but don’t fling it all over the rest of us.

Negativity will not make you a better writer. It won’t make you more friends. It won’t help your career. There is nothing positive about it (pun intended). Shake it off. Make that choice to reject it. Have your wallow and move on. Because if you were so happy with your choices, as you tell everyone every three posts, with your choice not to do XYZ, you don’t have to repeat it in such a negative way. Over and over.

Today’s theme is: Emotional Scene so I’ve decided to post a bit from RELENTLESS after Abbie and Roman have been found out and have had to break off their relationship.

FEDERATION CHRONICLES: RELENTLESS by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2009, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, The Berkley Group

Blearily, Abbie watched the vid screen in her living room two weeks later.

“Abbie, turn it off,” Nyna warned.

“I can’t! Nyna at least I can look at him.”

“Not like this. Come on. Why don’t I just poke you in the eye? We can just go straight to the horrible pain part and skip watching this.”

Unable to help herself, Abbie laughed at her sister. “Shut up. I’m trying to hear them fawn over Roman.”

She turned back to catch a tall, genetically perfect woman deliver a sugary, peppy, fannish bit about Roman:

House Lyons’s handsome leader, Roman Lyons has never commented one way or another about his involvement with barrister Abigail Haws but it’s clear he’s moved on.

Roman Lyons is being close mouthed about it except for one brief statement acknowledging that he was indeed looking for a wife. It’ll be nice to grow old with a woman to take care of him after all these years of raising his sons alone.

Perfect Polly there smiled dazzlingly into the screen and Abbie curled her lip as she shut the feed down.

“I’ve never seen a woman I wanted to shove into the meat grinder more,” Nyna said. “Well, until we see the hag Roman will marry. We will tear her to bits, of course.”

Abbie sighed and went to sit back next to her sister.

“I feel sorry for her. Whoever she is. Can you imagine just being traded off like that? Like you’re a sack of grain or a pretty bauble?”

“That’s well and good, Abbie but she’s getting in your way. Roman loves you. Marcus says he’s miserable and is terribly grouchy all day long.”

“Even worse then. Being married to a man who loves another woman! And good. He should be miserable. I’m miserable. I’m miserable because he made me love him and there he is all pretty and cultured and even if he doesn’t love this woman he will make her feel cherished and she’ll be the one next to him at night where I should be. And I can’t all because my father wasn’t Ranked.”

She stood up and began to pace.

“I ask you, Nyna, how fucking fair is that? I’ve been good. I’ve helped people. I’m working to make the ‘Verse a better place. I never railed against my fate after the attack. I deserve this man! And she’s going to have him. Why?”

“Finally. Gods, I’ve been wondering when you’d get mad. Watching you mope around for the last nearly two weeks has been ridiculous. Get mad. It is stupid. It’s fucked up.”

“And then, the AC was supposed to meet to tell me what was going on with our proposal but that got delayed because of the trials and this damnable mess. You’d think fucking me was as bad as a mass execution. I am a good person! I don’t need to have people shoving cameras in my face asking me how good Roman was in bed.”

“You did show remarkable restraint by not shoving that camera up his ass.” Nyna put her feet up on the low table in front of the couch.

“It’s not fair!” Abbie pounded her fists against her thighs. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone and it has to be the one man I can’t have? Why? What did I do? His precious Familial system! It’s hateful and backward and I hate it! I hate it. I hate his duty. I hate his honor. His resolve to do the right thing. Well, I’m the right thing. He says he loves me. I believe he loves me. But he walked away. Am I not allowed to have this one thing? Is he not allowed? Is that what this is about? He’s had everything with sparkles on top his whole life so now when there’s something he really wants he’s being punished somehow?”

She bent, resting on her haunches and screamed, low and guttural. And collapsed on the floor.

“I hate this time in my life.”

“You deserve to. Abbie, you’re such a good person. If anyone in this ‘Verse deserves happiness, it’s you.”

Abbie heaved a breath and sat up. “I’m over it now. Not really, I’m lying, but I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Nyna snorted. “Fine. Why don’t you tell me what you said to Dai to make him keep his mouth shut. I know you had words. It got around.”

“It doesn’t signify. It needed saying. It’s over. So far he’s keeping out of my way so hopefully he’ll continue with that. Anyway, why are you here? The arguments in Jaron’s trial start tomorrow. Doesn’t Marcus need the company?”

“The mother is here. She came to visit, got some official leave from her priests. Can you believe in all this time since the arrest she hasn’t even been here? You couldn’t keep me away from my child like that. But why should she bother now, she tossed him away when he was a baby.” Nyna shrugged.

“I like you with Marcus. I can’t imagine why he would care that you were there. He doesn’t love Jaron’s mother. Hells, he barely knows her.”

“He wanted me there. I guess I felt weird.”

Abbie rolled her eyes and pulled her sister from the couch. “Get the fuck outta here. Go to him. Be with him. I saw him earlier, he’s a mess.” She shoved Nyna’s coat on, slapping the hat on.

Nyna hugged her. “You’re the best. My best friend. You do deserve to have Roman. I wish I could make you happy.”

Abbie shrugged. “That’s life. Now go.” She shoved her sister from the doorway and watched her rush to the lift, anxious to be with her man.

She heaved a sigh and shut the door behind her.

Be sure to visit the other snippeters today to see what they’ve posted!

Jaci Burton
Eliza Gayle
Michelle Pillow
Mandy Roth
Juliana Stone
Lacey Savage
McKenna Jeffries
Moira Rogers
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Sasha White
Ashley Ladd
Victoria Janssen
Shelli Stevens
Shelley Munro
TJ Michaels
Lauren Dane
Beth Kery
Leah Braemel

I’m over at Nikki Duncan’s blog today talking about Trinity and giving away books! Come over and say hello.

Hey folks – Just a quick note: Yes, the story arc about Susan and what happened in Renee’s past is part of at two book story arc. It was way too big for me to fit into one book! So I’m polishing up the proposal for Kendra’s book, Hunted and I will be dealing with all that in it!

The series has had multiple book story arcs from the beginning – the Pellini story arc lasted four books with individual HEAs in each story – but I promise, just like with those books, I’ll give the couple their HEA within each book, even when the external storyline goes on over several books!

Thanks for all the wonderful notes you’ve all been sending, I appreciate each and every one of them!