Hello and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in excerpts of ten sentences or less.  I hope you’re staying safe and sane, and of course reading is a great way to do both.

I’m sharing from my current work-in-progress, a gay romantic fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White. In last week’s snippet, King Tristan announced that the appearance of the white stag was a good omen sent in support of his rule and Gabriel was only too happy to go along with it, in order to keep his unstable brother happy. So it appears the extraordinary events of the day will be swept under the rug. Or will they?

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“Are we to return empty-handed then?” Bryce asked.

“Empty handed but full of heart,” Tristan said, sounding almost like his old self. “We have been blessed by Astrid, goddess of the hunt.”

His men grinned, slapped each other on the back, and followed him into the trees, not one of them sparing a glance for Gabriel. Surely they looked forward to being the bearers of such good tidings. Was his brother correct in presuming none of them would spread dark rumors about the arrow stopped in mid-flight?

His mother’s voice came to him in a soft whisper: blame it on the gods.

Whenever inconvenient occurrences of magic cast a shadow over her benevolent image, his mother pointed to the new gods of the North.  The people were only too happy to have their fears redirected to a more distant, less intimate source of supernatural interference than the forest that bordered their lands.  Let sleeping nightmares lie, the queen always said.

***

© Igor Goriachev | Dreamstime.com

Blurb-in-progress for Snow, a reimagined fairy tale:

Following the death of his mother the Queen, Prince Gabriel is called home by his brother, now King. Gabriel hopes for a reconciliation with his estranged brother, but all is not well at Castle Rosenthal. King Tristan has fallen under the sway of a mysterious noble woman with a dark past, and all along the border of the Black Forest, magical denizens are on the move. Gabriel begins to fear for his life. Is the handsome huntsman in on a plot to assassinate him, or is there an even darker, more evil power afoot? A forced flight into the Black Forest may expose ancient magic at work, if Gabriel can survive long enough to uncover it.

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Weekend Writing Warriors is a blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in excerpts of ten sentences or less.  Click the link to check out the other writers participating today.  It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book.