Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Being a sequel, In Love and Death is set directly after In Pain and Blood. Some snippets will contain spoilers of those events.

Following on from the previous snippet where Tracker finds a suitable place for their first sparring lesson…

Dylan straightened. An odd, nervous bubble hit his stomach. He hadn’t had anyone teach him something so completely foreign in years. “What’s the first lesson?” He discreetly bounced on the balls of his feet, trying to expel some of the giddiness. A lot of it refused to be quelled so easily. “Stabbing?”

Tracker wrinkled his nose. “By the gods, no. We will begin with the basics.” He unsheathed his sword and offered it, hilt first, towards Dylan. “Show me how you hold it.”

“That’s all?” Dylan took up the weapon, his fingers closing around the leather-wrapped hilt. The sword wasn’t as heavy as he had presumed, perhaps the weight of a slinky mouser and just as likely to injure him if handled wrong.

He stared at the blade’s fang-like point, not seeing the weapon at all. The tower cats. He hadn’t seen a single one of them whilst they had walked the halls. They tended to skulk around where there was food or warmth, but even in the library, he’d seen no sign of them amongst the shelves.

I’ll be back with more from In Love and Death next weekend. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me on Discord!