“Lyra, where are you? Come here, we have a visitor.” Lyra looked up from her book and wondered if she could get away with snuffing the lamps in her room and pretending to be asleep. Khalik sounded drunk, again, and the friends he brought home were distasteful even when sober. Her door rattled, then bounced …
She was going to be late for class. Psyche saved the essay she’d been writing, stuffed her laptop in her bag, and grabbed the latest issue of Chic Obsession magazine from the coffee table as she ran. It had Eros’ latest photo shoot in there and she wanted to sit and drool over the glorious …
My dearest Mabel I simply had to put pen to page and fulfil my promise to you. Yes, dear friend, I have news to report, Lord Tristain has proposed! But not to me. No, he had to go down on one knee, in the middle of the Duchess of Southerton’s ball and beg for the …
As was tradition, Mila walked the boundaries of the family land on Midsummer’s Day. She’d never been quite sure which set she was meant to walk; the original, stretching several miles to encompass what were now three neighbouring farms and an artists’ retreat, or the current, which involved a quick turn around a generous back …
Cressida woke to golden sunlight and scrambled to dress. After days of grey, she would finally have the light she needed to paint. She left her room, still fastening her cloak against the likely outdoor chill as she walked down the corridor. Slipping out of the university’s sleeping quarters, she hurried down the colonnade to …
I'm starting a new round of One Day at a Thyme and drew 'swamp' as the location for my cottage. Yes, I live in a swamp, don't knock it till you've tried it. My cottage is set on a comfortably-sized hillock/island in the middle of the Everwhere Swamp on the eastern edge of Wayfair, which …
He watched her leave, walking down through the garden rather than towards the main house entrance. That’s right, she lived in that strange village at the bottom of the cliff, the place Xavier was staying. He wondered what it was like to live in a place that had seemingly jumped out of the pages of …
The King wasn’t what she expected, he was shorter for one thing. And much younger for another. Laya glared at her Captain as they left the Audience Room. “Why didn’t you tell me His Majesty was a child?” Captain Sarish looked surprised. “I thought you knew.” “And how, exactly, would I know?” “Oh, yes. I’d …
The man outside stared at her in mute misery, she flapped her hand at him. “Oh come in, for pity’s sake. You won’t trigger the wards in your current state and I clearly need to have a proper chat with your poor wife.” Dragos wheezed. “Wife?” Daren put a cautious toe over the threshold, then …
Jenara entered the breakfast room and sat at her usual spot. She’d tried sitting elsewhere a few times. Her family either didn’t notice, or, if she sat in their usual place, she was treated to a vague frown and a shuffle to another chair. Her eldest brother, Vance, had actually sat on her once. So, …
The DNA of Stories 