I’ve added some wordcount over the last week, and….I am officially DONE with the Bad Draft of The Phoenix Crown! The rest of my wordcount will be going into the short story I am writing for my donors, which is currently called I Look At My Lover and Only See Bones.
Wordcount: 1872
Accomplished: More Nonhle stuff, a whole bunch of tweaking.
Excerpt:
Marathey’s lips thinned. There was genuine grief written into the lines of his now-haggard face. He had aged twenty years almost overnight, and his feet were wrapped in bandages. A dark substance seeped through those wrappings. The smell of rot was not nearly overpowered by the incense that was burning nearby. She kept her mental hand on her talent, her shoulders stiff.
“You did,” he said. He was using a small, sharp knife to cut chunks off of a pear. It was a habit left over from his time as Prince of Deoleur, Lynnis had told her. There, it was regarded as terribly rude for anyone to cut up another’s food. “And I suppose you want your reward.”
She bit back her first response, something to the effect of if you loved her so, why did you have her killed? “A King keeps his promises,” she said, pitching her voice low. She was a stark figure in her storm-black suit, she knew. A reminder. “All record struck about who I was once.”
“You would only return to haunt me,” he said. “I do know better.” He raised his voice. “Guards. This one is still loyal to Lynnis. Kill her.”
Had she not been ready to use her talent, her life would have ended there.
But she grinned at the newly minted King, and spread her hands, unleashing nightmares.
