Wednesday, December 4, 2013

WIP Wednesday

From a little novella that I love to death, but am struggling to finish.

All That Is Precious


“Stop this.” I put myself beyond his reach, rather than continue to fight. His breath is rough, the shake in his hands a signal of intense pain. “Are you that anxious for death?”
“At least then I would be with Marcus.” He stops, biting the words off sharp enough to draw blood.
The confusion I had put aside, rises. I thought I knew the challenges that would face me. Persuading a westerner to honor our traditions. The risk of bringing him back to High Green. But there is something else here. Something deeper that separates us. “Marcus?”
“The man you killed.”
I wipe my fingers across my forehead to ease the ache. “It was not my intention to take his life. And he will be rewarded in the next world.”
“That does not bring him back.” He glares at me, anger and grief dug deep in the lines of his face. I remember the way he held the third man from the skitter and my breath sticks in my throat. “You're samapenya.”
He shakes his head. “I don't speak Kanai.”
I pause, trying to find the right words in Alatiera. “It means... same-loving. You will make a poor husband for me because the man in the flying thing was your lover. Because I am a woman.”
He flinches, but nods. “Yes, girl.”
 

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