#griveil excerpt

[conteur-writeblr]

Griveil Excerpt

Safia let her head drop with a frustrated sob and banged her fist against the cold ground, inches away from the first stair. Pinkish tears mingled with the dust in front of her face. She felt Syed kneel next to her, and he gently held her shoulder to pull her back up, so that they were face to face. She shook his hand off. He took it back and let his arm rest on his folded leg.

“You need to stop torturing yourself like this, Safiyya,” Syed told her. “I am not doing this for my pleasure. You know that they would be afraid of you if they saw you with your legs fully intact after a mere few weeks.”

A new player enters the ring!

[conteur-writeblr]

Last Line Tag

Thanks a bunch for tagging me @pheita, it feels good to be back in the tag game after a long drought of inspiration! Here's some lines I wrote during the last hour:

“We don’t know if they’re really safe.”

Olive’s eyes widened. “Do you think they’re actually in danger?”

“We have no way of knowing for sure! Safia told me about these people, they’re insane, they’re murderers!” Road paced back and forth, convulsively tugging at his hair. “They’ll probably follow. If not the Hunters that came to our house, there are others. Safia said they’re everywhere. They latched onto us, they’re not going to let go now.”

“No,” said Olive. “No, that can’t be all there is to this. We can still get out of this, right?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” said Road, feeling more and more frantic, like he was spiralling. “This is my fault. It’s my fault. They won’t let us escape. They’re gonna kill you, they’re gonna hurt you and they’re gonna kill you, and it’s my–”

A solid slap sent his head flying. Cat grabbed him by the shoulders, and she squeezed so hard that it felt like a bruise.

“Will you calm down?”

- From the WIP "Griveil"

Tagging: @writing-is-a-martial-art, @ladyniniane, @stories-by-rie, @sinniel

[conteur-writeblr]

Griveil Excerpt

“A true tragedy,” Safia was saying. “If only you hadn’t let me escape. Do you think these three would have survived, had Caleb and Jack been there to help them?”

She reached out and twirled one of his golden curls between her fingers. Aurel barely reacted to the intrusive touch. It could’ve been all the bites, the grief, the blood loss, or it could’ve been the mouse’s instinct to play dead under the predator’s paw. Road could smell the boy’s fear from where he stood.

“Well, the fact of the matter is that you did let me escape. You shouldn’t ponder on the what-ifs, darling.” 

She spoke the words like a light taunt, as if none of it was so serious, and Road felt the way it cut in the boy’s heart for the cruel mockery that it was.

[conteur-writeblr]

Griveil Excerpt

She stepped closer. The boy realized that she was approaching him, and all his bravado fell away into terror.

“Don’t,” he said.

She kept advancing. “What do you mean?”

Aurel backed away on trembling arms, frantically shaking his head of short golden curls. His blue eyes were wide.

“Don’t do that to me again, don’t do it to me.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.” His voice broke, tears welled in his eyes. “Don’t make me kill him.”

Safia smiled at him, tenderly, like a master at its pet. 

“Darling, none of this is up to you.”

[conteur-writeblr]

Griveil Excerpt

“Where did it go?” barked Jack.

Safia licked her lips, her tongue brushing against the blunt tips of her fangs. “I told you it was a wild goose chase, Hunter.” She would’ve winced at the cracks in her voice, if she’d had the energy to spare.

He grabbed the dreary mess of her hair and yanked her head back, and she hissed at the pain of the searing collar around her neck.

“Not what I asked,” he ground out. “Tell me where it went.”

“You’re a great stupid oaf, aren’t you? I can’t tell you that.”

“I’ll make you.”

“You’re welcome to try. Ask Caleb for tips, he’ll tell you what he’s done wrong so far.” She glanced at the lanky hunter. “Everything, really.”

“Make it shut up,” growled Caleb.

[conteur-writeblr]

Today's favorite lines:

Noël was faster and stronger and caught up to her in an instant, pinning her against a pulpit so violently that Safia heard the wood splinter. A burst of wind swept through her long hair as the demon's leathery wings flared to each side of her.

"He is not your lunch," she snarled.

[conteur-writeblr]

Favorite lines today:

She paid no attention to the corpses and went to crouch before him in a few measured steps, whereupon she laid a hand on his head in the same fluid movement. Her lilac gaze was unwavering. "That was wonderful," she praised him. There was a light accent to her voice which was deep, and velvet, calm and pleasant. "Thank you for putting on such a good show."

[conteur-writeblr]

For today's writing, in the category "favorite lines", we have:

Road averted his gaze when theirs became too much to hold. Em scooted closer and laid a hand in his thick fur, below his neck. "Road, why won't you shift back?"

Cat scoffed. "He only shifts when it's convenient, apparently."

"Cat, stop." Olive turned his odd-eyed gaze to Road and Em. "There has to be a good reason. Something serious."

"Oh, sure," she sarcastically replied. "Now if only we had some way of knowing what it is, like, I don't know, talking? The thing humans do?"