There was something about dance mixed with the trailing light of their daggers that caused Dray to lose all track of time and fall into a meditative state of tranquility. They let their fear, worry, and irritation fall away as they focused on the whirling motion of their long skirt and their lit blades.
Dray strode over and shoved on the door to no more avail than Adair's effort. "Solei Celeste, what did you make?"
Sol all but whimpered. Use of his full name had that effect. "A mistake?"
- excerpt from "Is This Closet Mine or Yours?"
Blythe's heart pounded against her rib cage at the sound of a voice where no one had been. At least she had an answer to her earlier question: his voice was nothing like his twin's. It was soft and almost lyrical- whatever his accent was, she couldn't place it, and had never heard anything like it.
"I'm a Protectorate. What little I have in me of Artisan isn't even worth talking about." Wysta already knew this and Blythe was getting fed up with the insistence that she was something she wasn't.
It was pretty, really, the way the molten glass exploded across the room. In places it dripped, in places it pinged. A droplet hit Blythe's hand and she brushed it off before it could harden, then brushed a few more off her shirt as it was smoldering. The glassmaker gasped and snatched her hands away before she could clear off the rest.
Adair tapped his thumb to his ring finger for luck, something he had picked up from his new friends, then tucked his paintbrush behind his ear. Emotional support from an art supply. Creators, he was pathetic.
Addy had one foot in the water when a hand snatched at the back of his shirt and heaved him away from the shore. "No, dope! You won't get there in time, not the way you swim! Climb!"
Feren shoved him towards the tiny island's lone tree before shimmying up it. Addy bit his lip as the water reached his feet and rose almost immediately to his calves.
"Don't think for a single second that you're on my level. You're just a spoiled little boy with an adequate tongue and nothing to lose. A mouth full of lies and a pocket full of blackmail doesn't mean you can play with the pros. Take my advice: give up, go home, and beg for forgiveness. Creators know you're good at copping out."
-Dray to Feren, book 2 (Flashover)
Etri adjusted his coat, fingers ghosting over the dark fabric. “Believe me or not as you will. I only ask that the performers have more care or their lights will go dark.”
Blythe’s eyes fell on the fire at the mention of light. It seemed no longer as bright, like this strange conversation had lasted longer than a few minutes-- or as though Etri walking past had dimmed the flames.
Ametrine's voice was so quiet Adair had to strain to hear. "You leave me here when you go home."
That nightmare was a new one. Fortunately it was a much easier one to chase away with truth and reassurance than the ones about monsters or Ametine’s original family. Who, in Adair's opinion, might as well have been monsters.
-Excerpt from "Family of the Heart"
Blythe frowned at her, taking in the blue gloves, blue dress, blue hair, blue everything. Surely she’d remember someone who looked like that. Then it clicked. “Let me guess. You’re Sapphire.”
The other woman brought her hand to her chest and let out a little gasp. “However did you know! I thought I was keeping that so well a secret.”
-excerpt from an early draft of Colorweaver (Book 1)
"I was twelve when my father left without ever telling me why. When I was fourteen I came home from school to find a letter from my mother telling me that she'd left, too. Then there was the boyfriend who thought it was too dangerous to keep me around. Even Blythe went away and left me alone so that she could start her career. Everyone I care about always leaves, sooner or later.
Nina lifted her head from her hands when she heard familiar footsteps thud across the floor. She winced. Feren no longer dressed as a Protectorate, so how he managed to continue to make noise in soft shoes was beyond her guess. It would be just like him to have something loud and uncomfortable in the soles solely to create melodramatic entrances.
-excerpt from "Rising to a Challenge"
The pantry door popped open and a perplexed cat was deposited on the other side. It opened again just long enough for a can to roll across the floor.
"She's not going to eat chickpeas," Adair pointed out as Willow began washing herself with a hauteur that suggested she was above dealing with stupid humans.
-Excerpt from "Is This Closet Mine or Yours?"
Talan tilted his head back to look up at Dray with contriteness in eyes the color of a stormy afternoon sky. Blue-grey wasn’t a common color. Even Dray’s own hazel was unusual, but Talan’s nonconformity was what had drawn Dray to him in the first place. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to meet you. I found this and I wanted to see if it was worth anything.”
-Excerpt from Colorweaver (Book 1)
The Unexpected Inspiration series is a lighthearted collection of lgbt+ fantasy novels and short stories. It's high fantasy set in an art-centric, contemporary world and is filled with magic, mischief, found family, and carnival performers. More information can be found here.
