Sunday Snippet: Twilight Kingdom

The first week of June is in the books and I got a big chunk of my garage cleaned out, which makes me very happy.

Work projects are moving along and I'm hoping to line up another project or two in the near future. I love a full calendar!

I had a decent week of television even with the great garage cleanout. I'm not up to my regular schedule yet and I'm actually okay with that.

I finished up the second half of Silent Witness and actually liked the kind of twisty ending it had. Lots of red herrings in this episode.

Started a watch of Death in Paradise. I've never seen this series from the actual beginning and I'm excited to dive in.

Caught another episode of Only Murders in the Building and I loved having some Mabel backstory. The fact she loved The X-Files as a kid makes me so happy.

Continued my rewatch of Battlestar Galactica. "Resistance" is such a great episode … with the exception of introducing a character I absolutely disliked with intense passion.

Watched an episode of Classic Rugrats. The two segments were ones I had forgotten and I'm always happy to watch those.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Twilight Kingdom, a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Jess Gillian heads to the outer rim planets to get away from his overbearing parents—the royal consorts of their home planet. When the heir is away, the evil Maniforti will play, luring Nareen Rhom, a palace ward, into a relationship so he can get close to the rulers. When Nareen gets wise, Maniforti casts a spell holding the entire kingdom in his thrall—until Jess returns and sets things straight.

And a preview snippet…

Jess woke up with a groan. "What the hell happened?" His last clear memory had the no-name bounty hunter saying something about making it worse.

A cool hand pressed against his forehead. "Damn. Glad you finally came to."

Jess blinked to clear his blurry vision and found the bounty hunter's face hovering over his. Shit. Not good.

He snagged her wrist and jerked her forward. "You bitch. Why are you trying to kill me?" The accusation flew past his lips before he could stop it.

She snatched her arm away. "I'm not—stupid man—if I made an attempt on your life, you'd be dead." She snorted. "I've been protecting you but trying not to interfere." She rolled her eyes. "That didn't work out well." Sarcasm came naturally to her.

Jess's eyes widened. "Protecting me? What the hell for?" He'd been fine until she showed up in that backwater bar.

The bounty hunter shrugged. "The prince consort hired me to keep tabs on you. But … I can't reach him. And that's concerning." A note of worry crept into her tone.

Jess grunted. "Because something's wrong. Nari reached out. Probably saved my life, actually … right before you got here." He paused, recalling the desperation in Nari's plea. "Dammit. How long have I been out?"

The bounty hunter lifted a shoulder. "Two days, but—"

Jess winced. "Shit!" He sat up and gasped in pain.

She shoved him back down. "Hold on. You're not gonna be worth anything if you undo everything I just did." She gathered up some nasty smelling herbs and packed them against his skin. "You need at least two more days—preferably three—before you're back in top form." Scooping the concoction into a leather pouch, she tucked it into her bag.

Jess grimaced, but very carefully sat up again. "Get me some clothes." He didn't have two or three days to waste.

She frowned. "Did you hear what I said?"

He lifted his chin. "Yeah. It'll take at least that long to get back home. I'll recuperate on the way." His gaze scanned the room, much cleaner than he'd remembered leaving it.

She made her displeasure known but did as he asked, going to the chest of drawers and retrieving a pair of pants and a shirt.

A thought crept into his head. Old magick. He blinked. Didn't feel telepathic but it did make an odd kind of sense.

The bounty hunter tossed the clothes to him. "I still think it's a good idea to wait." But she gathered her jacket and slid the messenger bag over her shoulder.

While he dressed, he questioned the bounty hunter. "What do you know about the ancient rites?" He only knew as much as Nari shared with him.

No-name's brows drew together. "Why?"

He shook his head. "Just a feeling, but it's like one that's not mine."

The bounty hunter blew out a harsh breath. "Geez, if we're dealing with the old guard shit, we need to go now."

Jess snorted. "Which is what I suggested in the first place."

I love this story! It has a few twists that are so much fun to write.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye