Alec gingerly touched his hair, shoulders, and arms, his expression almost feral in its intensity and distrust. After a moment, however, the look disappeared, replaced by the most wondrous look of relief Seregil had ever seen.
"O Illior, it is you. You're alive," Alec gasped, tears welling in his eyes. "That bastard! I should have guessed, but the blood, your voice, everything. But you're alive!"
Shuddering, he grabbed Seregil in a fierce embrace.
"Last time I looked," Seregil rasped, his throat tight with emotion as he hugged Alec to him.
anyway, incomplete list of some of my other favorite moments from the Nightrunner series so far:
in Luck in the Shadows when Alec is supposed to be learning various table manners and foods so he can be a convincing spy, and Seregil gives him. I think a sea urchin or something weird like that and is like. okay how would you eat this. and Alec fucks it up real bad. just explodes this thing into inedible pulp. and Seregil goes 👍 yes that is exactly what you want to do if you’re pretending to be from anywhere inland and someone hands you one of these things. everyone fucks this up on their first try. great work
also in Luck in the Shadows, there’s a part where they’re traveling by boat and because they’re trying to avoid being followed, Seregil is disguised as a noblewoman. and the captain of the boat they’re on will NOT stop coming on to him even though “Lady Gwethelyn” is married. so at one point in an attempt to get him to Stop being all up in their business Alec (who is pretending to be Lady Gwethelyn’s squire) is like “btw she’s pregnant”. importantly: this Does Not Work even a little bit.
okay one more from Luck in the Shadows: when Alec first sees the creepy-ass necromancer mummy’s dismembered hands that the Orëska just has scuttling around under a glass case. and Seregil sneaks up behind him to jumpscare him by crawling a hand across his shoulder. kind of a dick move. very funny unfortunately
okay I lied. one other Luck in the Shadows moment. I’m not gonna explain this one because if you haven’t already read these books you GOTTA go into this one blind but. Alec’s first break-in in Rhiminee. moment of all time.
in Stalking Darkness when the man who the Plenimarans hired to help them infiltrate the city meets with his handlers and he’s like. yes everything is going great. my work is nearly complete. also I’ve made an interesting business contact. very promising. it’s That Guy You Hate Who Stole Your Stuff
Mr. Ship Captain comes back in Stalking Darkness and he’s like. no I’m not still mad about the pretending to be a woman thing. but some guys were following you and they burned my boat. what the hell man. I needed that. and Seregil goes, what if I invest in you and your crew becoming privateers. and he does and they get a new ship. with a figurehead that’s a carving of a woman who looks suspiciously like Lady Gwethelyn. the figurehead is visibly pregnant
Micum and Alec throw Seregil into a snowbank. that’s it that’s the scene
right before Beka’s unit rides off to war, Seregil throws them a going away party and they elect a very drunk Alec to be their mascot and have him bless all of them. this one’s not really funny or anything it’s just very sweet
Listening to audiobook of Stalking Darkness (I've read the books twice and wanted to hear them too). Because I'm a terrible person and a fan (but are they not the same?) I would love to read a bit about Alec later struggling with his sexual abuse at the hands of Ylinestra and then later Mardus and his men. Yes, I know so far as the canon Mardus didn't touch him but a) we know at least one soldier and the Dyrmagnos forcibly kissed him and multiple soldiers definitely groped and taunted him. And b) outside of canon one can play however they want.
So, you know. Alec having flashbacks and then trouble being with Seregil because of it, and they have to work to overcome his trauma.
You know.
Maybe work in the threesome mural at the Street of Lights just for funsies. 😘
Ok stalking darkness is SOOOOOOOO fun, the pace has definitely picked up from the first book, and I feel more at home with the world and the characters and VERY REAL AND CANON QUEER THINGS ARE HAPPENING and there's just. General Intrigue and Tomfoolery and Hijinks and Shenanigans I'm having so much funnnnn
If you are a ROTE fan and don't care about age gaps and need a laugh I think u should all go read the Nightrunner series tbh
A desperate ache lanced through Seregil as he looked down into those dark blue eyes.
“I can’t tell you, talí, because I’d only have to lie,” he said, suddenly dejected.
[…]
Alec got up to go without a word. But he paused in the doorway, looking back at Seregil still sitting by the fire. “What does talí mean? Is it Aurënfaie?”
“Talí?” A ghost of the old grin tugged at one corner of Seregil’s mouth. “Yes, it’s an Aurënfaie term of endearment, rather old-fashioned, like beloved. Where’d you pick that up?”
“I thought—” Alec regarded him quizzically, then shook his head. “I don’t know, at one of the salons, probably. Sleep well, Seregil.”
Seregil calling Alec beloved in his mother tongue without even realizing it was the reason for my collapse
Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America's own.
Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America's increasingly dominant private prison industry. It's the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.
In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE's corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar's path have devastating consequences.
Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system's unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means.
The Nightrunner series (Luck in the Shadows, Stalking Darkness, Traitor's Moon, Shadows Return, The White Road, Casket of Souls, Shards of Time) by Lynn Flewelling
Endorsement from submitter: "First genre books I read with queers! Written in the early 90s, so has era typical language. I would say this book has romance in it, but is primarily a political intrigue fantasy. I say this is a positive!!! I don't mind a romantasy, but I tend to find them focusing more on the romance than the fantasy, this has both without one getting lost in the background details! Alec and Seregil will steal your hearts and probably any juicy gossip you have lying around!"
When young Alec of Kerry is taken prisoner for a crime he didn’t commit, he is certain that his life is at an end. But one thing he never expected was his cellmate. Spy, rogue, thief, and noble, Seregil of Rhiminee is many things–none of them predictable. And when he offers to take on Alec as his apprentice, things may never be the same for either of them. Soon Alec is traveling roads he never knew existed, toward a war he never suspected was brewing. Before long he and Seregil are embroiled in a sinister plot that runs deeper than either can imagine, and that may cost them far more than their lives if they fail. But fortune is as unpredictable as Alec’s new mentor, and this time there just might be… Luck in the Shadows.
Fantasy, epic fantasy, adventure, political intrigue, series, adult
