POST YOUR NOVEL EXCERPT HERE!!!!

[jynxgirl.livejournal.com]

POST YOUR NOVEL EXCERPT HERE!!!!

Please keep it relatively short, and only in this thread. Thanks!

No more than 4000 words, and please no multiple posts!

Comments

[twistdfateangel.livejournal.com]

“... Apparently, Yashina and Milovy are in Lumierailles.”

“Who are they?” asked Sophie.

“By birthright and breeding, the Grand Duchess' future handmaidens,” said Tristaine. There was a hint of loathing in her voice.

“There's something wrong with them, isn't there?” It was less of a question on Sophie's part and more of a statement of the obvious. “Did they kill someone?”

“Ha! Not outright,” said Miroslav.

“They're a pack of young harpies,” Tristaine continued, “They'd start a conspiracy, just to liven up a dull morning. Last heard, Lady Agafya Milovy was very cold to her husband at court and danced three waltzes with another man.”

“Perhaps they quarreled?” Sophie wasn't holding her breath over it.

“She was waltzing with Duke Afanasy Frolov, the Minister of War, and a man twenty years her elder,” Miroslav snorted with an edge of malice, “Not to mention, the only remaining heir should something happen to both the Prince Regent and the Grand Duchess. There's a rather vocal faction at court that would rather not wait for such tragedies.”

“So, you think that Lady Milovy would rather take her chances at being an Imperial favorite than being a Lord's wife?”

“Lord Yashin is the Minister of Education,” Tristaine supplied, shoving a handful of the morning paper under the logs on the fireplace. Miroslav took out the crystal again and flicked it carelessly at the hearth. The kindling beneath crackled to life and began to catch at the bark. “Admittedly, he's a bit of a milksop, better suited to teaching, but he certainly doesn't deserve Lady Milovy or that sister of his.”

“Anna Yashina was as innocent as you, Sophie,” she went on, “But she was sent to learn feminine accomplishments here, in Lumierailles.”

“With her aunt, Mariya the She-Devil,” Miroslav said, fishing out an engraved flask, “Lady Mariya Vodniya was quite the sorceress, as well as quite the dilletante. No-one with any taste liked her, but her sister was an idiot and believed all 'dear Risha' needed was to exercize some motherlyinstincts. Instead, 'dear Risha' exposed her to some of the worst the four Vampiric Houses can offer, the most decayed sorcerous families and the vilest creatures mankind has ever bred. Anna Yashina returned home and showed some signs of repentance, but after a while... The decadence had clearly seeped into her mind. She loves a scandal, even when its her own.”

“They hardly seems like proper companions for a Grand Duchess!” Sophie blurted out, “Can't they be exiled or banished from court?”

“Sadly, not yet,” Miroslav replied between punctuating swigs, “its complicated. The family members of an Imperial Minister or Advisor can't be sent away from court without a divorce, a widowhood, or her husband's exile. It's an old law that nobody is inclined to change. Yashin is madly devoted to his bride and sister, and neither of them would dream of putting the golden goose in a stew pot. Yashin is fairly inoffensive and too smart to annoy his employer, so, I'm afraid we're stuck with the two brats until either Yashin realizes they're leeches or does something characteristically stupid.”

“Is it possible,” Sophie hazarded, “that they might have something to do with the deaths of the male heirs? If you want something to gossip about and you're bored enough, who's to say someone brought up like Anna Yashina wouldn't turn to assassination? And Agafya Milovy would probably like very much to be the Imperial favorite as you said. She'd be literally two steps away from that now.”

Miroslav and Tristaine were staring at her in surprise. Sophie realized that she'd been thinking aloud and had probably said something they were all thinking and didn't dare say. “I—I'm sorry,” she stammered, “but it just occurred to me that foolish people do unspeakable things every day in the name of entertainment.”

“Well, well, Miro,” said Tristaine in mild amazement, “It appears our little western sparrow isn't nearly so innocent as we first believed.”

“I think I leave you two ladies to gossip,” Miroslav said, “some battles are best fought in the drawing rooms.” He bowed and took his leave, chastely locking the door behind him.