Well, with just 42 days left to finish this draft of "The Pawn of Faery" (formerly known as "Nullum Desiderium: Book One"), I am making decent progress. I'm up to 66,746 words and am confident that it will be easy to bump that up past 80,000. I'm liking this version even more than the previous rough draft, so that's good. If anyone wants to be a first reader, by the way, just give a shout and I can supply you with pages. It's a bit darker this time around, but that just makes it all that more delightful to write (and hopefully read).

Last weekend, though, I didn't get much writing done because I was at the Haiku Northwest table at Aki Matsuri. It was fun, but exhausting (I'm not used to being "on" for so long). Here I am at the table. The colored sheets on the wall are haiku from members in our group. If you'd like to read some, you can follow this link: http://sites.google.com/site/haikunorthwest/poems-by-members



I didn't get many haiku written that weekend, either, but I did have fun watching folks. We were right next to the Sakura-Con table, so we got to see the interesting characters who passed by there.



Well, Belle is meowing at me, reminding me that my tea is going cold, so I'd best get on with writing. I'm hoping to finish Ch. 4 today and move on to Ch. 5. I shall try to be more diligent about updating these postings. My life's just not terribly exciting, but I shall see what adventures I can have this weekend to change that.

It's been a busy last few weeks. Two weekends ago, I was in Canada (for the first time ever) on Gabriola Island in B.C. for a haiku weekend. It was fabulous, especially the double rainbow/ sunset/ lightning show on Saturday evening. I'm eager to return to the area, even though it takes a while and a few ferry rides to get there.



Last weekend, I was housesitting for the wonderful poet, Lana Hechtman Ayers, and her husband. With such a beautiful view of the water, it's a wonder I got any work done, but some I did.



Which brings me to this coming weekend. I'll be down in Portland for the Willamette Writers Conference (my 3rd). And yes, I will be pitching "Nullum Desiderium" Book One. Only I've been having a crisis of titles, so I am now tenatively calling it "The Pawn of Faery" to keep from confusing folks with the Latin. I also rather like "Beck & Call" as a snappy title, but maybe that's just me. Any opinions out there? Anyway, wish me luck. I will be glad when it's over, because like most writers, I prefer writing the stories to trying to sell them.

A toasty day here and it's barely past noon! The back lawn continues to resemble a field and Belle is curled up on my chair, wishing it wasn't so warm. I've been writing a new opening chapter for "Nullum." It's still very rough, but I'm having fun with it. Yes, I have plenty of other things I should be doing with "Nullum," like figuring out how to pitch it at the conference in 3 weeks, but the more I've been thinking about it, the more I think that it probably does need to follow the traditional story structure for this sort of tale. First, we need to see Lucian in the ordinary world, even if only for a page, then he knocks his head on the warehouse floor and after that, everything changes. He can see the fey. They start paying attention to him. Welcome to the wonderous world of Faery.

Wait. What was that? You've been reading these posts for months now and I still haven't told you what "Nullum" is about? Sorry. Let me fix that.

"Nullum Desiderium," (which means No Regrets in Latin) is an urban fantasy story set in the Seattle area. No, there aren't any vampires. Or werewolves. Or zombies. There's 21 year old Lucian Teller, a scrawny, easy-going, college drop-out. He works at a large grocery store and lives with his girlfriend, Delkana West, in a rental house in Bellevue. He's been happy enough to just float through the past year. Sure his mother bugs him about when he's going to get married, Delkana hints that maybe he should look for a better job, and everyone at work treats him like a dogsbody, but stasis works just fine for him . . . until the day he slips in the warehouse and hits his head. Then everything changes.

When he comes to, Lucian discovers that he can now see creatures and beings the likes of which he never even imagined existing. The fey take an immediate liking to him and ask him to be their pawn, to serve both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts of Faery, answering summonses from each and performing their assigned tasks. Dazzled, he agrees. But being at the beck and call of Faery does not come without its challenges, the most difficult of which is balancing his new duties with those in his ordinary life. How is he supposed to keep everyone happy when he gets summoned to Faery in the middle of dinner with his girlfriend, especially when he can't tell her a thing about the fey?

Complicating matters is a poet named Theo, who has lived among the fey for the past seven years. He's supposed to be sacrificed at their Tithe ceremony on Halloween, but Lucian doesn't think he's feeling as keen about giving up his life as he was seven years ago. Guess who'll be their second choice for the dubious honor if Theo manages to dodge it?

Then there's the matter of a glanconer named Nivalis. He's an elven charmer in the Unseelie Court who keeps aiding and outright rescuing Lucian. But if Lucian has learned anything about Faery, it's that no one offers favors without expecting something in return, and with every favor, he knows he's getting deeper and deeper in debt with the glanconer. At the same time, he feels a growing attaction toward Nivalis, and he's not so sure it's just the glamour that's causing it.

So there you have it. "Nullum" in a nutshell. Intrigued? Confused? Want to know more? Just ask. I'll be glad to tell you what I can, and tempt you with hints of what I can't.

Speaking of which, back to it. Lucian's first contact with Faery, a bunch of chanting pixies...

Well, Chapter One of "Nullum: Book One" has been mailed off to Willamette Writers, along with a lousy synopsis, for critique at the WW Conference in August. I really need to learn how to write better synopses. But it's done, so now I am recharging my creative juices by reading "City of Bones" by Cassandra Clare and "The Breaking of Northwall" by Paul O. Williams. I'm rereading the former because I've been itching to read the 3rd book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy, but I wanted to read the previous two books first, and I know once I start her books, I'll get sucked into them and not get any writing done. (It has happened before.) And I'm reading the first of the Pelbar series because Paul O. Williams was a talented haiku poet and wrote science fiction as well, and being an amateur haiku poet myself who is trying to write fantasy, I thought I should partake of his fiction.

Last Sunday, Russ and I went kayaking around Deception Pass with our kayaking class. I am happy to report that neither of us tipped over and fell out of our kayaks, though I had a close call while crossing a current and ended up bracing with my hands (should have used my paddle, but it worked). The kelp was quite lovely to watch, but not too closely, because bobbing kelp plus bobbing kayak equals bobbing sense of balance. Still, I had a lot more fun than I thought I would, and was less sore the next day than I'd anticipated being (except for a headache, which retreated after a couple Excedrin). Russ may be able to convince me to go kayaking with him again someday.

Let's see, haiku news. I got a senryu accepted for the January 2010 issue of Prune Juice, so that's exciting (though it seems sooooo far away!). I should hear back from The Heron's Nest about my recent submission in a few weeks. In the meantime, I need to send some more poems out...

Well, the subject line just about says it all. This afternoon, I finished the rough draft of "Nullum Desiderium: Book One." There is sparkling apple cider chilling in the fridge, along with more than a few bottles of beer (it is a long weekend, after all, and the weather is gorgeous!).

I just finished printing out the last two chapters. The word count is 53,195, which probably means more than the page count of 154 pgs. since I type in 1.5 spaced Cochin font. But it is slowly starting to sink in that I'm done. Of course, it'd probably be more satisfying if I hadn't just received a letter from my cousin suggesting something I could possibly do to help out the sagging Janine parts. As brilliant an idea as it is, I'm trying not to think about it and just enjoy the sense of completion.

Of course, after I let it sit for a few days (a week??), I need to dive into the revision. I'm submitting the first 20 pages to the Willamette Writers Conference to receive an advanced manuscript critique with Mary Rosenblum and that's due June 19. Then I need to revise the rest of it and start getting a pitch ready for the conference in August. No rest for the wicked.

OK, the weather is too nice and I've been spending waaaaay to much time with my laptop lately. Heading outside. Haiku news later.

What an absolutely gorgeous day here! 70 degrees with hazy blue sky. Still working to finish the rough draft of "Nullum: Book One." Three cheers for writing outside on the shaded patio, surrounded by potted trees and herbs!

On a different writing front, the Summer 2009 issue of Simply Haiku is on-line now: http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n2/senryu/senryu.html I've got two senryu in it and more to come in future issues. Still waiting for Roadrunner to publish their May issue, and I don't know if Wisteria's April issue is late, or if I just didn't receive it. Now I need to get some more haiku (and tanka) submissions circulating.

Time for tea and writing.

Work on the rough draft of "Nullum Desiderium: Book One" continues. I have decided that Delkana, the star of the short story, "The Tithe", does not actually need to be in this book. Poor Del. I just couldn't figure out how to introduce a soon-to-be major character in the last chapters of the book, so I'll just have to find some other way to introduce her in Book Two.

That said, I am on page 147 (1.5 spaced & Cochin font) and nearing 50,000 words for Book One. The tithe scene is underway and gaining momentum. With luck, I will get enough written this evening to justify taking a break tomorrow to go to Top Pot and reread previous chapters. If not...well, no doughnuts for me.

In other news, yesterday was Russ's birthday and we saw our first ever pair of Wilson's warblers in the backyard right before we were going to head out for Indian food. Such cheery yellow birds on an otherwise grey day. The sun is making a half-hearted attempt to shine at the moment. It's supposed to be nice this weekend (upper 60s), which means I'll have to break out the t-shirts again (I've moved back to long-sleeved shirts and a scarf this week).

Has anyone seen the April issue of Wisteria yet? Just curious. I have not. I am also eagerly awaiting the May issue of Roadrunner and Simply Haiku: http://www.roadrunnerjournal.net/ and http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n1/index-issue.html since I should have poems in each issue. Ah well...patience...

OK, time to stretch the legs and then resume writing!

Can you believe it's less than a month until Write-O-Rama at Hugo House in Seattle?

Truly! Once again, I am one of the laureates helping to raise money for Hugo House and its fabulous writing programs. You can check out the link here: http://www.hugohouse.org/giving/writeorama If you have a few dollars to spare and either are a writer, an aspiring writer, or simply like to support those who write, please donate to Write-O-Rama. Even $5 or $10 helps! If you're in the area on June 6th, please consider attending. It's an absolute blast being around so many other folks who are passionate about writing. And the clamor of clanging at the end of each workshop session is not to be missed (except perhaps by those of a delicate disposition).

All right, back to "Nullum: Book One." I'm trying to finish up Chapter 11 this afternoon. To the tithe!

Golly, has it really been 3 weeks since I last posted? Have you been wondering if I've been abducted by aliens or run off to a remote corner of Scotland with Russ and the cat? Well, nothing so glamorous has been going on. I've just been writing.

And writing.

And writing.

April was my month to complete a rough draft of "Nullum Desiderium: Book One." It's May now, and although I didn't finish yet, the end is in sight. So I'm extending the deadline a week, and we'll see how close I come. After that, it's time for a brief break to get enough distance from it so I can dive back in with editing, particularly the first 3 chapters. I'm turning in the beginning for a manuscript critique by Mary Rosenblum at the Willamette Writers Conference in August. http://www.willamettewriters.com/wwc/3/ I'm also pitching it (for real this time) to several different agents there, so I need to get an amazing pitch ready by then, too. No pressure...eek.

But I have been having a great time writing. Truly. This is why I'm a writer, because this is what I love to do. All day long. If the weather is warm enough to sit outside and write (which it has been a handful of times), then all the better.

My alter-ego, haiku poet, has been suffering from neglect a bit, though she did get to indulge in the fabulous Field's End writing conference on Bainbridge Island last month. http://www.fieldsend.org/ Thank you to Michael and to Lana for letting me tag along and for filling my head with poetry!

Speaking of poetry, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the incredible tanka symposium that is happening this Saturday at the Mercer Island Library from noon to 5pm. The link will do it more justice than I will, but if you have ever wondered about tanka and are in the area, please do attend. There will be cookies! http://sites.google.com/site/haikunorthwest/Home/2009-events-2/tanka-symposium

OK, enough for now. Time for some rhubarb crunch and vanilla ice cream.

And now for the "Nullum Desiderium" progress update!

To recap, after receiving comments from a few people that my short stories all seemed to be part of a larger whole, I decided to try merging them into the novel, "Nullum Desiderium" that I wrote 2 Novembers ago for NaNoWriMo. My current goal is to have a rough, rough draft done by the end of April.

It's proving to be an interesting process. On Friday while taking a walk through the forest, it occurred to me that I may be working on two books. Book One would be the product of the merged short stories, with the climax being the tithe. Book Two would follow the arc of the original NaNoWriMo version of "Nullum." Both books would fall under the title of "Nullum Desiderium," (which, yes, I know, isn't a saleable title, but it's all I've got for now). The reason I'm considering this is because I'm not sure how to make the pivotal tithe ceremony anything less than a climax, but it's nowhere near the end of the story and I've already got a climax for the NaNo part of the novel.

I've never tried to do with before, so I feel like I'm sailing in uncharted waters. The present word count is just over 80,000 words, with about 50,000 of those belonging to the NaNo novel (Book Two). Once I get all the short stories merged and transition scenes written, I figure Book One will be approximately 40,000-45,000 words. Neither of those lengths is long enough to stand as its own book, hence the desire to have them between the same covers.

So what do you think? Might that work, to have Book One and Book Two of "Nullum," or do such stunts only work with sprawling epics?

In the meantime, I'll just keep writing. It's been a lot of fun losing myself in the story, though I have been sorely neglecting my haiku lately. And my reading. And bulb planting. And countless other things. That's one of the reasons for giving myself a month to do this, so I can get back to other things in May. So without further ado, back to the story!

I know I'm a few days late, but welcome to Spring! Seems like it's been a particularly long winter this year, and even though there was no dramatic change of seasons on Friday, it still feels like we've turned an optimistic corner of sorts. This feeling was only boosted by the sighting of the first swallow of spring yesterday whilst walking around Mercer Slough. As usual, I heard it first and craned my neck, forgetting what the sound belonged to until I saw that small shape sailing through the sky. Don't know why swallows fill me with such joy, but I let out an exclamation and did a little dance on the spot. It disappeared shortly thereafter, hopefully not because of my exhuberance, and I probably won't see another one for weeks, but still, it made my day.

Other excitement yesterday included an email from Katherine Samuelowicz saying that she's publishing 3 of my haiku in the next issue of Paper Wasp. Here's the website, though it hasn't been updated in a while: http://members.optusnet.com.au/paperwasp/index.html . I'm quite pleased and look forward to receiving my contributor's copy. Never been published in an Australian journal before.

Work continues on "Nullum." I'm on Chapter 4 now and bridging the time between "Do You Believe in Fairies?" and "Equinox." It's a good distraction from wondering and worrying about Clarion West. I should hear back from them within the next week and a half, though my hope is fading with each day that it will be positive news. Still, chin up. Stranger things have happened . . . (trying to remember what they are).

To end on an upbeat note, I received yet another hand-me-down of technology from Russ. First was his pocket PC, which makes a wonderful alarm clock, second was his mobile phone, which is a bit clunky, but easy to text on, and now I am in possession of his Sony Reader (his new one arrives tomorrow). While I will never foresake paper books for electronic ones, it is fiendishly handy whilst reading at the breakfast table not having to hold down pages or worry about getting jam on them. Besides, I'm quite enjoying the irony of reading "Pride and Prejudice" on an e-book.

OK, back to "Nullum."

Well, I finally got all of the short story "Do You Believe in Fairies?" integrated into the novel. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for a rough draft. "Nullum Desiderium" is currently sitting at over 71,600 words. Next I have to write the transition scene(s) between it and "Equinox." The transitions are admittedly fun to write because I'm not doing any revising/rewriting with them. Oh sure, I'll edit them later, but for now it's refreshing to write something new. After that, I'll fit in "Send Me An Angel," and then things will get interesting because I'll have to rewrite "The Tithe" from Lucian's POV. It was originally told in Delkana's, so I'm curious how it will change when it's through Lucian's eyes. Has anyone done that sort of thing before? Did you keep the dialogue and actions the same, but shift the internal thoughts and observations? Just curious.

After all the short stories get added in, I'll be back to writing in open water, writing forward instead of filling in previous scenes. Still not sure how it's going to end. Part of that might be because I don't want it to end. I'm quite fond of Lucian and Oriana and Nivalis and Lord Tenebrae and even Delkana, though her character is still very much in flux right now. But end it must...at least the novel needs an end. I'm aiming for pre-summer. We'll see how disciplined I am between now and then.

Okay, time for a walk before Russ gets home and we head to Mehfil's for delicious Indian food.

Guess what we woke up to this morning?




Apparently, winter is hanging on tooth and nail. After yesterday's rain, it was surprising to wake up to such different weather, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's been a hell of a winter here. Maybe this means that next week it'll be sunny and in the 60s (hope, hope).

I'm debating between working on "Nullum" or haiku today. I have a week to get some haiku together for my reading at our Haiku NW meeting, but I'm thinking that can be done tomorrow at Top Pot Doughnuts. Oh, and since I haven't included this link for a while, here it is: http://sites.google.com/site/haikunorthwest/poems-by-members/tanya-mcdonald It's to a few of my poems on the Haiku NW website.

Time to write, or at least try to, though with snow on the ground, I'm likely to spend time gazing out the window at it, unseasonable or not. I'll leave you with a shot of the corn lilies that are popping up outside my window.

Yes, it's the Revenge of the Cold, the unwanted sequel to The Great Cold of January. But I have some super-duper cough medicine now that will vanquish the fell beast that seems content to reside in my chest and produce vast quantities of snot. Now we shall see what codeine does to the creative process.

Thanks to Cat for her tweet about this story on Fantasy Magazine's site. Check it out. http://www.darkfantasy.org/fantasy/?p=1507#comment-9565 It's truly bizarre, but I love it. Reminds me of the movie "Coraline" and makes me want to snatch the blank paper from my printer tray and fashion paper dolls from it.

Speaking of "Coraline," it was a great movie. Very creative and fun to watch with that stop-motion animation, plus the story was a good one. Shame on me for not having read the book beforehand, but I have since read it and can say that it's a good, quick, quirky read. Now I am devouring "Going Under" by Justina Robson, the third book in her Quantum Gravity series. I'd bought it a few months ago and had been saving it, but after watching a bunch of "Ghost in the Shell" episodes last weekend, I felt inspired to read it. Incidently, if you've got Netflix streaming capabilities, I'd highly recommend the series. Here's a link to the website: http://ghostintheshell2ndgig.manga.com/ Think of it as an animated graphic novel that makes you think. Fun stuff.

Yep, that's about all that's going on here. Well, that and working on "Nullum." I'm still getting the introduction part written, Chapter 1, I suppose, and will soon be linking it up with "Do You Believe in Faeries?" I still feel a bit reluctant to part with the short stories, but hopefully they will be happier as parts of a novel. Has anyone else had to do that before, assimilate short stories into a novel because they just don't stand on their own very well? Just curious. Time for more juice.

Well, the house is slightly cleaner and I'm mostly packed for my train trip down to Salem tomorrow. I'm hoping for a window seat on the water side, though it's difficult to identify ducks, grebes, and the like from the upper deck of a train traveling at ??miles an hour. I'm also rather hoping we don't get any more snow tonight. We woke to an inch and a half this morning (surprise!), and while it has melted off the roads, the front lawn is still covered. Actually, it looks a lot better with snow covering up the shaggy, dug-up mossy patches.

By a stroke of luck, I received a reply from Modern Haiku this afternoon (they accepted a poem!), so I was able to choose 3 haiku from the 9 they rejected for my entry to the Pinewood Haiku Contest. http://pinewoodhaiku.blogspot.com/ 'Twas a good lesson though, to not send out submissions right before a contest deadline. I'm also waiting to hear back from Paper Wasp, but that won't likely be for a couple more weeks.

Time to see if I can't get a little bit written on "Nullum" before it's time for Doctor Who and ice cream.

OK, I was just in Russ's office chatting with him, and I picked up the dust jacket for "Hot, Flat, and Crowded." Have any of you looked at the art on the front and back of it? It's Hieronymus Bosch's triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights" and was painted circa 1500. Here's the link to the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GardenED_edit1.jpg Go check it out and look at the details. It's a truly wild piece of fantasy art! I love it and it frightens me all at once.

Went to Seattle today to mosey around Pike Place Market. I did not get hit by flying fish, so that's a good thing. Nor did I get lost, which is also a plus. I did end up coming home with not one, but two kaleidoscopes. The website doesn't do the real items justice, but here it is anyway: http://www.michaelshawstainedglass.com/ Shiny, sparkly bright colors in ever-changing patterns. *Grin.* And beautiful craftsmanship, too. I also stopped by KuKuRuZa for a couple bags of popcorn. http://www.kukuruza.com/ Yum.

Now it's time for bed. Tomorrow, more work on "Nullum" and getting ready to head down to Salem for the rest of the week.

Yes, it's true. My muse is indeed a nocturnal creature. I toiled all day to get less than a page written, but since dinner, I've managed to produce a page and a half (single-spaced). True, it's still a pathetic number of words and I'm likely to delete some tomorrow, but for now it feels like progress. Lucian is having tea with Lady Lithadora, his first sojourn into Faery after his initiation as their pawn. I'm worried that the pacing is too slow, but we'll see what another hour of writing produces.

I don't know if I've linked to my Twitter account yet, so here it is if you want more updated rambling: http://twitter.com/waywardchicken . I'm also considering venturing into the wide world of Facebook, but am still not convinced I should. Yeah, it'd be interesting to connect with folks, but do I really need another time-sapping website to visit? Really?

OK, back to the novel. It's sitting at just over 70,000 words now, and I've got lots more to write, to include the whole tithe scene from Lucian's POV, the transitions between short story sections, and, oh yeah, the ending!

Farewell sunshine, we're back to grey skies and drizzle. Perhaps that's just as well since I have writing to get done. Earlier this week, after spending 2 days replotting where "Nullum" goes and perhaps should change, I decided that I would try merging my short stories with my novel to create one entity. I suppose it's something I should have done earlier, but I was trying so hard to be a short story writer. Alas, I'm not sure I'm meant to write short pieces, at least not whilst I'm working on a larger project. My mind seems to have a hard enough time switching between writing poetry and writing fiction, let alone short fiction and novels. At any rate, I made a new file and copied 3 out of 4 stories into it in chronological order, then pasted in "Nullum." The word count has now leaped up to 68,000ish words, so that was fun to see.

Of course, there's much to be done with this version, and after all the pasting into a single file was done, I froze. Where to begin? Should I continue writing Ch. 13, which isn't really Ch. 13 anymore? Should I start rewriting "The Tithe" from Lucian's POV (it's currently the only story told from someone else's POV)? Should I try to work on a new beginning? Should I just quietly edge away from it and go work on some haiku?

In the end, I decided to tackle the beginning. I know Lucian a lot better now than I did when I started writing "Nullum" in Nov. 2007, so I feel like I can give him an improved introduction and have some fun with it. So he's off to a tea party in Lady Lithadora's garden, his first invitation to a faery event, and he's running late. Time to find out what happens next...

Another good writing day. This, folks, is why I love being a writer. When I'm in the mood and the words are coming, it's a wonderful feeling, the best bounce-around-the-house high I know of. (Listening to The Killers' album "Day & Age" is also a contributing factor to the bounciness.) I don't want to do anything else, just find out where Lucian and Nivalis are going. Maybe someday, someone else will want to read their adventures. If not, well, at least I'm being entertained by the story.

In other news, Depeche Mode is releasing their new album, "Sounds of the Universe" on April 21st. http://www.depechemode.com/ For those of you who don't know, I'm a big DM fan. Have been since high school (thanks, Pat). No word yet on a US tour, but I'm hoping they do manage to come to Seattle. Last time I saw them was at Wimbleton in London. Got a humdinger of a migraine, but it was worth it. I'm also hoping this album is better than their last one, "Playing the Angel."

Well, the cornbread should be done baking soon, so I'd best figure out what else we're having for dinner. That's a drawback to being in such a writing zone: dinner tends to suffer on the creativity scale. Oh well. Russ is a very tolerant husband. :)

Maybe it's because last week was a less-than-good week mood-wise.

Maybe it's because the sun showed itself today (and tried to do so yesterday).

Maybe it's because we have a new president and I'm still basking in the inauguration afterglow.

For whatever reason, I'm back in a writing mode. I spent all of yesterday working on Chapter 11 of "Nullum Desiderium" and finished it up this afternoon. Now at long last I'm writing in open water, which is to say that I'm not rewriting something or trying to patch a hole I created between scenes. It's a heady feeling, even if I do have an idea of where the plot is going. It may yet diverge from its course, and this is an exciting prospect, because that's when the magic happens.

Anyway, feeling ebullient and hoping the mood continues for the rest of the week and beyond!

And now, a clip from Ch. 11:

“How’s the pain?” Nivalis inquired the next morning.
“What pain?” Lucian murmured, his head cradled against the glanconer’s bare chest. They were back in his apartment, reclined on his bed.
“Any pain. There’s no need to suffer when I can keep you comfortably numb ‘til Christmas.”
“I’m fine,” Lucian replied.
“Just fine?”
Lucian opened his eyes and his breath caught in his throat as he gazed at the glanconer’s handsome face. “More than fine,” he amended. There was an ache in his chest that had nothing to do with the wound, and he closed his eyes again.
“Something wrong?”
“Where do you want me to start?”