The cold snap was still in force when I woke, no surprises there. If a chilly bit of weather is going to go to the sort of effort needed to cool down a south-eastern swamp, it was going to hang about for a bit. I decided to do some long-planned, long put-off work on the …
It was a pity Deon was so damn attractive, and even more of a pity that he knew it. He was charming every woman and half the men in Mydor before the portrait was even half done. Zara ignored him. He took it as a challenge. Every morning she’d find him waiting for her in …
Summer opened the sliding glass door to the wide wooden terrace to find her husband having a heated argument with a magpie. Braedon clearly understood the bird’s trills and caws and was glaring at it in a way that would cow most other creatures. She put her coffee and breakfast down on the table, interrupting …
The following morning, Eva returned from the buffet table to find a man sitting in her seat and laughing a bit too heartily at something her mother had just said. Her father looked up. “And here she is now. Evangelina, do you remember your Uncle Dominic?” Her full name only got used when her father …
Zara pulled the shop door closed and locked it, then wove through the shoppers still crowding the merchant district. As she waited for the street stall vendor to wrap her order for dinner – two stuffed pastries, one savoury, one sweet – she scanned the news sheets pinned to a rickety wooden noticeboard between two …
“It’s a beautiful day, let’s go on a picnic!” Braedon looked out at the golden sun and clear blue sky, then back at his beaming wife. “It’s already 30 degrees out there and it’s not yet nine. We’ll cook.” “We’ll go to the lake.” “Along with half the rest of town. The others will be …
I popped into town today. I needed jars and sealing wax for my upcoming jam-making marathon, and the potter had sent word he'd completed firing on a batch exactly to my specifications. I walked up the hill from the little dock I preferred to use when using the boat and made my way down the …
The rumbling eased and the cascade of rocks settled, dust hovering in the air above. Grey called from the far side of the fall. “Captain?” His voice was shrill, terror coating the single world. Justin kept hold of Marie but shifted to call back. “We’re alright. You?” Grey’s voice dropped an octave. “Sara’s hurt her …
That evening, she arrived at the restaurant to find Becky waiting for her. They both pretended Eva’s eyes weren’t swollen from crying as they hugged and settled in to a comfortable table with a good view of the room. She brought her friend up to speed on her whirlwind twenty-four hours and ended with. “So …
Let me tell you what I did. I took it, didn’t I? I took that damn stone and ran. Took the divine stone of the Kingslander kings straight out of the middle of their treasure vault and legged it. Should have known something was up when I managed to get out of the castle without …
The DNA of Stories 