Excerpt time!
Oct. 20th, 2009 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jl_merrowYup, in all the excitement earlier, I forgot to post an excerpt! So here it is:
From King's Honor in the Bedknobs & Beanstalks anthology:
Corin gave Reuben a bed for the night and a bite to eat, and as they sat by the fire in his humble dwelling, they spoke of many things. Reuben told Corin of the village in which he had grown up, nestled at the foot of the mountains which loomed majestically over the plains, no less beautiful for all their harshness. Corin, in his turn, spoke of the forest, and of his grandmother who had raised him, and of her many wise ways.
And as the firelight began to flicker, and the daylight faded fully, Corin asked a question that had been burning in his mind all day long. “Will you tell me, Reuben, why you’re so against marrying a princess? For the king’s daughters are said to be the fairest maidens in all the land.”
Reuben smiled. “I think, Corin, you know the answer to that question. No maiden, be she the fairest in all the land, will ever win my heart. I’ve known that all my life, though ’twas only today I met the man who might win it, if he chooses.”
Corin, his heart swelling in surprise and joy, leaned over and pressed a kiss against Reuben’s lips.
His kiss was warm and honest, and tasted of the ale they’d shared with their supper. The hands upon Reuben’s face were work-roughened but gentle, and Reuben returned the kiss with delight and an urgency he had not expected to feel. For this morning he had viewed the prospect of death, should he fail in his task, with equanimity; but now he found he had something he wished to live for.
Calloused fingers fumbled with clothing, and stubbled chins rasped upon flesh as the fever gripped them both, to love this night as though it might be their last.
From King's Honor in the Bedknobs & Beanstalks anthology:
Corin gave Reuben a bed for the night and a bite to eat, and as they sat by the fire in his humble dwelling, they spoke of many things. Reuben told Corin of the village in which he had grown up, nestled at the foot of the mountains which loomed majestically over the plains, no less beautiful for all their harshness. Corin, in his turn, spoke of the forest, and of his grandmother who had raised him, and of her many wise ways.
And as the firelight began to flicker, and the daylight faded fully, Corin asked a question that had been burning in his mind all day long. “Will you tell me, Reuben, why you’re so against marrying a princess? For the king’s daughters are said to be the fairest maidens in all the land.”
Reuben smiled. “I think, Corin, you know the answer to that question. No maiden, be she the fairest in all the land, will ever win my heart. I’ve known that all my life, though ’twas only today I met the man who might win it, if he chooses.”
Corin, his heart swelling in surprise and joy, leaned over and pressed a kiss against Reuben’s lips.
His kiss was warm and honest, and tasted of the ale they’d shared with their supper. The hands upon Reuben’s face were work-roughened but gentle, and Reuben returned the kiss with delight and an urgency he had not expected to feel. For this morning he had viewed the prospect of death, should he fail in his task, with equanimity; but now he found he had something he wished to live for.
Calloused fingers fumbled with clothing, and stubbled chins rasped upon flesh as the fever gripped them both, to love this night as though it might be their last.
