The mixture looked disgusting and smelled amazing. “What are you making?” Gretchen smiled as her teenage stepsons ambled into the kitchen. Trust them to follow their noses to food. “It’s some sort of chocolate cake recipe your Aunt Marcia suggested I try.” She looked down at the mess in the mixing bowl. “Unless baking makes …
They were being sent into exile. That’s if she didn’t end up in the dungeon for murdering her idiot babbler of a husband before they were delivered to wherever it was they were being sent. To never walk the rooms of this house again, to never visit the shops along the Queen’s Boulevard, to never …
The man held up the glowing sphere, all smug superiority. “See? You are the missing princess. You must be returned to your family and position. You have no choice.” May wanted to smack him with Mama’s frying pan. Instead, she crossed her arms and retorted. “I have plenty of choices. I can scream, and fight, …
“How did he manage to get a reputation as a leading diplomat? He’s the most undiplomatic person I’ve ever met.” Lord Marcus looked across the table at Lady Charlotte, who was stirring her tea with a little more vigour than necessary. He’d ‘bumped into’ Charlotte and Anya, a little too conveniently in Anya’s opinion, as …
It was the dip that did it, it always was. The dip in the road just beyond the Mitchells’ place, the one all the locals knew to watch out for, the one that all but disappeared when the setting sun fell just so and the road before and after stretched out in a smooth, level …
I was supposed to be asleep, along with the rest of the guests at the Duchess’s house party. From the sounds I heard behind several doors I passed, other guests were also awake, and many in rooms other than those allocated to them. If what I had to do had been less important, less urgent, …
James had known kids, especially little boys, were active, but in the way he knew crocodiles were dangerous without ever actually encountering one. Now he was not only encountering a young boy, he was supposedly parenting the poor kid. Although, maybe typhoon would be a better descriptor, one that merged with a tsunami at bath …
Rowena sat in her solar, satisfied but nervous. The Dowager Duchess of Gransmere had arrived, and was getting settled, along with her various servants and adjuncts. She would be joining Rowena for herbal tea and sweet-cakes shortly. Mistress Blackwood had quailed at the task of preparing for such a visit in less than a day, …
This continues a story I was playing with a while ago: Wave and Source Rowena headed for the stairs to the solar, to summon the housekeeper, Mistress Blackwood, and to start packing. The sound of horses hooves in the courtyard made her pause. Had Geoffrey returned? Had he remembered his wife after all? She moved …
Caleb was eight and loved the stars. He could point you to Venus, then tell you how it was possible to know it wasn’t Mars. He could spot the Big Dipper, and then show you how it turned into the tail and hindquarters of the Great Bear At Christmas, his older sister, Petra, the best …
The DNA of Stories 