Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, bloggers, and readers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!). Check out all the other awesome snippets by clicking on the picture above.
I’m back! It’s been a couple months but I think I have the new work schedule sorted out now and will be able to keep up with blog hops. I hope so, anyhow, because I’ve missed all of you.
I’m not sure what I’ll be posting from – it may change each week depending on my mood, but this week it’s from Book Five of the Academy of the Accord (fantasy) series that I have been (and will be) working on for forever.
A bit of background on the characters in this snippet.
Kordelm and Wellhym are warriors, captains at the Academy, and lovers.
Marsden is the commander of the garrison there, and a father figure to the two of them since he practically raised them.
Draethlen is 10 years old, and is a new cadet at the academy. Marsden rescued him from an orphanage where he was sexually abused by the headmaster.
Marsden has just finished telling Kordelm and Wellhym about how he came to find Draethlen and what had happened to him.
(This book is my current edition of editing hell, so… squint.)
“Right now,” Marsden continued, “we need to focus on helping Draethlen. I don’t think the boy has ever known a lick of kindness in his entire life. I know he doesn’t trust anyone, at least not men. And that’s where you two come in.”
“Us?” Kordelm looked at Marsden, startled. “But we’re what he fears.”
“No,” Wellhym said before Marsden could speak. “We are what his tormentors fear.” Both of them turned to look at him. “I’ve been where he is,” Wellhym said softly. “Not the rape or physical abuse, but the bullying and the name calling.” He found himself studying his boots. “I – I grew up in a small farming community. I was… different… and different is never good.”
He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder: Kordelm had moved silently to stand beside him. Their eyes locked for a moment, then he smiled, and turned to Marsden, who was smiling at the two of them.
“I was right – you two are exactly what he needs.”
Novel Notes 