Sunday Snippet: Kidnapped

Geez… what a week. I can honestly say I've never worked harder on a copy edit than I have for the past twelve days. I've actually never taken twelve days to complete a copy edit before. TLDR… it's a long manuscript and there were a crap ton of glitchy little things that needed review. My brain kind of hurts right now. LOL

To top the long work week off, my daughter had three nights of after-school events.  National honor society inductions on Tuesday, golf awards banquet on Thursday, and the holiday parade on Friday, which we made five gallons of hot chocolate for the choir kids to drink and keep warm while riding the float. Seriously… it's not as easy to make five gallons of a hot drink as one might think. And… my daughter's also in band so she doesn't even ride the float with the choir. She marches and misses all the chocolaty goodness.

Needless to say, I'm now behind on my television viewing. I actually couldn't watch the finale of The Last Ship. I'm not ready to say goodbye to this show yet. I'm going to miss that damn ship and its sailors so much.

I do have a brief rundown of what I did get to see. Caught another episode of Strike Back's fifth season. I'm starting to like this group a lot. I do miss the instant chemistry the previous cast had, especially the leads. That said, the dynamic is different enough with this group that I'm interested in where things go. And they're completely pared down, carrying on with how the previous incarnation ended. The commander is rebuilding and restoring the reputation of Section Twenty. So… they get lots of wiggle room.

Caught the Chicago crossover event with Fire, Med, and PD. Thoroughly enjoyed all three shows. I've lost some love for Chicago PD. The fifth season kind of lost me with all the sneaky snitchy bullshit. I really want to watch Chicago Med from the beginning. Here's hoping that happens in the near future.

I'm almost finished with Luke Cage. Disappointed there won't be a third season but maybe we'll see the character is something else. Who knows.

Got an episode of Murdoch Mysteries in. I like how this show weaves current topical events into the storyline, showing how often history tends to repeat. Not necessarily a great thing, but it's fun to see how they work it all out.

Watched a couple episodes of Classic Who. I'm behind on the new season but should get caught up soon. Started a new episode of Penny Dreadful and should finish the first season by the end of the month.

And that's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Kidnapped, a novella that started with a writing community prompt of "think French Revolution, a commoner and a noble". I like the commoner and the noble aspect but, eh, didn't really want to dive into the French Revolution. Instead, I'm hoping to get that kind of feel with an urban fantasy vibe.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Jaina Wraith discovers Seb Morrison is a member of the nobility and she kidnaps him, fully intent on having him executed. When Seb reminds her how many times he's come to her aid, she has to decide whether to help him escape or leave him to a tragic fate.

And a preview snippet…

Seb Morrison cut through the park on his break from working in the plotters' gardens. At ten, his duties only included watering the many rows of vegetables and keeping the plots free of weeds and critters. When he got time off, he went to his favorite spot, under the huge oak in the square, to read, write, or draw.

"Give me that back. It's mine."

He glanced toward the voice. Jaina Wraith struggled with two tough nuts, the name given to youths who lived in the dregs and earned their living by brute force. They were trying to take her novice healer's kit. Jaina cherished the small box because her father made it, giving his blessing for her to follow in his footsteps as the prime healer.

Just last week, she'd shared the good news and showed Seb the contents of her case.

She doubled up her fist and punched one in the shoulder. "Let go. There's nothing of worth in here. It's a novice kit." She kicked the other one in the shin.

The taller of the two, Rash Markey, countered her statement. "Yeah, what if your dad decided to stash some good stuff in there? We wanna see for ourselves." He finally got the kit away from Jaina.

But not for long. She snatched it back when he tried to pry it open.

She tucked the case under her arm. "I've got bindings, a needle, thread, and some poultices. That's it."

The shorter, bulkier tough nut, Dav Warder, grabbed her arm. "Then let's see. Those herbs and stuff might be worth something." He made a move to take the box.

Jaina ducked and dodged, trying to get around the duo.

Seb made a quick move and stepped in between Jaina and the toughs. "Leave her alone." The two guys had at least two years on Seb, but he'd hit a growth spurt and topped both by a couple of inches.

Rash narrowed his eyes. "Why? What's it to you?" He made a move to get in Seb's face.

Seb planted his hands on his hips. "It's belongs to her and you should respect her property."

Dav snorted. "If I get hold of it, it'll become mine. Your logic is stupid."

Seb gave Dav a hard look. "You're not going to take it from her."

The duo exchanged a glance.

Rash tried a different tactic. "Who are you to say so? Some hoity-toity noble bum?"

Ugh. Calling him a wharf rat would be less insulting. No one who lived on the fringes wanted to be lumped in with the nobility.

Seb shook his head. "I'm no noble. But I paid attention when they handed out manners, which means you don't take something that doesn't belong to you." He jabbed Rash in the shoulder. "Good manners aren't exclusive to nobles, you moron."

Dav tsked. "Maybe not, but possession is almost exclusive to ownership and if you can't keep what you have, you don't own it." He knocked the box out from under Jaina's arm and made a dash for it.

Rash tried to give aid but Seb stopped him with a hard uppercut to his chin. Jaina chose that moment to use both fists and boxed Dav's ears. The two toughs yowled in pain and scampered off muttering curses twelve-year-olds shouldn't even know.

Jaina retrieved her kit and dusted off the dirt. "I didn't need you to save me, you know." She sent him a sideways glance.

Seb admired her fierce independence. She showed no fear when dealing with the tough nuts. He wouldn't take that away from her.

He nodded. "Of course you didn't." He started toward the oak where he'd stashed a book earlier.

Jaina fell into step beside him. "Then why did you butt in?" She skipped ahead and turned to look back in his direction.

Seb shrugged. "Because two against one isn't fair no matter how well you can defend yourself." His mother taught him to always stand up when someone needed help.

Jaina stopped for a moment, her head tilted to one side. "Oh." She paused a moment then added, "Well… thank you, I guess." Her cheeks went pink.

Seb gave her a wide smile. "You're welcome." He stopped at the tree, reaching inside the hollowed out spot to grab his book. "Wanna stick around for a while?"

Jaina shook her head. "Can't. Gotta meet my dad at the old man's estate. Anwar has been beating the stable hands again. I'm learning how to apply the poultices to stave off infection from the crop marks." She waved farewell and started back toward the city gates.

Seb sighed. "Anwar is such an ass." Not even Seb's mother would get angry at his use of foul language.

Because she knew exactly how much havoc the Grafton heir could cause. After all, Anwar happened to be her nephew. Not that her brother Hanson claimed his sister. He banished Seb's mother to live on the fringe when she married Cantor Morrison, Hanson's chief courier.

Anwar, at the tender age of five, caused Seb's dad's death by planting a splitter in the axel of the car he drove for work. Anwar meant it as a prank, but the splitter didn't do its job until Cantor went around a precarious curve in the drive leading away from the estate. When the device popped the wheel, the car swerved into traffic and Seb's dad had been killed in the resulting crash.

Born three days later, Seb never got to meet his dad.

I'm really hoping the world-building comes through without having to do a lot of detailed descriptions. I like to experiment with minimalism. Thankfully my beta babes always let me know when I fall short.

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye