Cia

Evin and Ben were boyfriends for over two years in college, but their lives went in very different directions after they graduated. Now, years later, they meet again in a new city when Evin hurts himself. Ben is an emergency room resident when he'd always planned to be a hot shot plastic surgeon. Evin has a son, and his entire demeanor is different. Can they bridge the gap years placed between them or was their first parting destined to be repeated?

Who else thinks this is a good month to curl up with a story and a hot/cold beverage? I do, I do!! This story has been called beautiful, fabulous, and wonderful, so I thought it could use some feature time. Check out this month's featured story, read it, then be ready to come back and share your thoughts on the discussion day at the end of the month! A Rescued Life by Lilansui Length: 53,313 Description: Stabbed and left for dead, Toshiro Shindo is at the end of the rope: no hope, no one to care, no reason to live. And then Jason rescues him, and shows him kindness and then love. When the man who stabbed him returns for him, Toshiro fights to keep the life Jason rescued. A Reader Said: You really amped it up at the end...it was great throughout, but you finished it with a bang. ~ Cannd ​ This month's ​discussion will take place on Monday, November 30th.

Epilogue “Wildman was here last night. It’s soup without bread for lunch until we can get some more, but he left a gift.” The basket where we usually kept the bread was filled with bits and pieces, metal and gears, cogs and wires. “He always finds the best stuff.” I rifled through the mess. “You know, you’re a much better inventor than your father ever was.” “What he did didn’t interest me.” I shrugged. “This is different. Everything out here is different.” Living at the edge of an ancient c

'Tis the witching week! Perfect timing to talk about the three short stories we featured this month by GA authors, Gee Whillickers, Cynus, and Bill W. Did you make time to read them? They're only about 5k each, so if you haven't, check out the announcement blog post with links to each one. If you did, now's the time to add your comments and reviews! First, of course, I have a great interview with each author to share. Cynus: What’s your favorite Halloween memory or tradition? This memory starts off really sad, but it has a happy ending. My first boyfriend, and my best friend, died in the spring. He was killed in a motorcycle accident when we were sixteen. Over the next few months, I lost nearly all of my friendships because of the resulting depression. I simply couldn't be around people, and the kids I knew just didn't understand. I did have one friend who stood by me, and as we entered fall he started inviting me over to his house. I was still so entrenched in my depression that I didn't take his invite, but a week before Halloween we were walking home together, and he suddenly grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward his house at the point where we normally said goodbye to each other. I resisted, but he kept pulling, and so I pulled back harder. He eventually gave up and went his way, but I could tell he was hurt by how I was acting. Over the next week, I kept thinking about what had happened. I knew he was going out trick-or-treating with his younger brother on Halloween, and I decided I was going to ambush him and then follow him back to his house, surprising him for Halloween. It worked, and I ended up spending the night at his house. Our friendship grew from there, and we're still best friends today, and have been roommates for almost seven years now. I credit that night with the beginning of the friendship which saved my life, and it happened on Halloween. The spooky season often inspires new twists based on old tales. Did that come into play with your story? Can't say that it did. If I did pull from some other story I knew, then I definitely don't remember which story it was. I've always been fond of scarecrows, and martial artists, and pagan gods, and cute kids with mohawks... I just threw them all together. Oh, there is this one episode of Supernatural which influenced it a bit, so I suppose there's a connection there. Why did you pick your particular creepy critter? A love of ghosts? A desire to tell your own vampire schtick? A fascination with the living dead? There's something about scarecrows which I've always found fascinating. I don't really know why, other than perhaps the thought of a guardian over the harvest sparks my pagan brain moving in awesome directions. Which is probably why I chose to make Jack a god as well. Do you have a favorite part of the story? A character or scene? The big reveal, when Jack jumps off his pole and advances toward Jordan. Don't know how well I conveyed it in the writing, but that part played like a movie in my head over and over again. Jack's monstrous and magical appearance, and the look of horror on Jordan's face... I loved every moment of fear the bully experienced. Do you have other Halloween/horroresque story that you want to share with readers? It can be your own or one you really enjoy. (include links if you want, and I’ll add those) Halloween is actually what started me writing online. My first story I ever released was part of a Halloween collection at Awesomedude.com, but it's also hosted here now. The Drawbacks of Being a Monster is one of my favorites, and you can read it here: http://www.gayauthor...ofbeingamonster. I also have a new story which will be released for this Halloween. I don't plan on releasing it until Monday, as it's entered into a blind contest on another website where people are to vote without knowing who the authors are, but I'll surely advertise it once it posts. One of my favorite authors at AwesomeDude, Lil' Octopus, released this little gem last year, and I found it as exhilarating as most of his work. It's title is "Lost in the Woods", and you can find it here: http://awesomedude.c...n-the-woods.htm Gee Whillickers: What’s your favorite Halloween memory or tradition? Halloween movie marathons. When I was a teen a couple of friends and myself would rent two three Halloween themed movies, the cornier the better, and on the weekend nearest to Halloween we'd get together and watch these until all hours. Afterwards, we'd get into these weird half serious, half ridiculous existential discussions about the 'deeper meaning' of the movies. Eventually this always got sillier and stupider until we were imagining all kinds of things from hidden messages about alien invasions to political critiques on the organization and design of suburban neighbourhoods. Yeah, we were a weird bunch. But I remember those nights, and the fun we had. The spooky season often inspires new twists based on old tales. Did that come into play with your story? Absolutely! The story was a pretty generic teen boy-meets-boy tale, but the boys' zombie costumes gave me a way to have some fun with the too-often used tropes of these kinds of stories. One of the things Halloween stories in our genre can often do is play with the idea of hiding, wearing costumes, playing a role, something that strikes a chord with many of us depending on the challenges we faced growing up and often still face when we become adults. Why did you pick your particular creepy critter? A love of ghosts? A desire to tell your own vampire schtick? A fascination with the living dead? There's something about zombies that I find fun. Even before the current zombie craze with The Walking Dead and World War Z and the like. You can do so much with the idea, it's not quite as limited as the rule set around Dracula, or Werewolves, and they seem to strike a real deep primal fear in us when its done right. Do you have a favorite part of the story? A character or scene? Absolutely. The climax, when Val and Danny end up kissing with their friends all yelling about zombie rights. The whole 'they can't help being undead' and 'if they're eating each other's brains then they won't go after yours' stuff was just a blast to play around with. Do you have other Halloween/horroresque story that you want to share with readers? It can be your own or one you really enjoy. There's so many good ones. 'The Halloween from Hell' by Cole Parker is great, if a bit dark. http://awesomedude.c...n-from-hell.htm One of mine from a few years ago that I had a lot of fun with is 'The Costume' http://awesomedude.c...whillickers.htm I'm also writing a new Halloween story that I hope to have finished and edited within a short period of time. Look for it! Bill W: ​ What’s your favorite Halloween memory or tradition? I grew up in the country, so I couldn't go trick-or-treating by yourself until I was a teenager. Out of all of the neighbors' houses I'd be taken too, I remember one place most of all. It was an elderly woman who lived alone and made some extra money by making cookies and selling them at her little roadside stand throughout the year. At Halloween, she'd give us one of those cookies when we stopped by. They were as large as a bread plate and the most delicious cookies I think I've even eaten. We had the choice of a sugar, chocolate chip, peanut butter or molasses cookie, but she always let me take two. I also remember some of the pranks I was part of as a teen, although I'll skip going into detail about those, in case there was no statute of limitations on our activities. lol The spooky season often inspires new twists based on old tales. Did that come into play with your story? Actually, mine started out being based on a news report I'd once heard, where the coroner started to perform an autopsy on a man and discovered he wasn't dead after all. Adding that to my fear of what it must be like being trapped in your body and not being able to communicate, the story just grew from there. Why did you pick your particular creepy critter? A love of ghosts? A desire to tell your own vampire schtick? A fascination with the living dead? Although this story isn't quite the same, I think it grew out of my morbid fascination throughout my youth about the stories of people who'd been buried alive. Again, being trapped in their own bodies, although I'm not sure if any of them ever realized what was happening at the time, especially when they were being buried. Do you have a favorite part of the story? A character or scene? I like the part where you can hear his thoughts about what he wants to do, but he's unable to put them into action or communicate with anyone that he's not really dead. I also like the very end, when he finally figures out what actually saved him. Bill didn't want to toot his own horn, but I will say he has several other Halloween stories to choose from, such as A Halloween Nightmare, From Beyond the Grave, Role Reversal... and more! You can find them here.

I half expected Anna to put guards on us, but when we ventured out of our room to look for something to eat, there was no one obviously waiting outside our doors and everyone in the hall appeared to be on their way to or from somewhere, not lingering suspiciously. “Well that makes things easier,” I muttered. “What?” Teddy asked. “Turn right here.” “Oh, just that you remember where the kitchens are. I want to stop by wherever their medical staff hides out. You need a new sling, and I want someo

Ready for more Halloween fun? This month we're featuring KC for the Signature background with his story A Grim Fairytale. Have you read it yet? You can check out my review of his story here. What about his themed desktop background? It's spookily fitting for this time of year! But first, you can't miss this interview where KC shares a little information of the... naughty variety. What’s your favorite Halloween tradition? With a name like Grim, Halloween has to be my favorite Holiday! Growing up, Halloween was a big event in our house. Our entire neighborhood was always decked out with lots of creepy crawly things and my family had a huge costume party that everyone came to. It was THE party of the year! If you missed it, you’d hear about it for weeks. Ever been on the wrong side of an egging? The right side? I plead the Fifth! LOL Oh yeah, as a kid we did it all. Egging houses, toilet papering trees, ding-dong-ditch, flaming bags of poop….you name it, we did it and now that I have a teenager I’m getting payback for all my years as a hellion. We’ve only had our house egged once (knock-on-wood) but we live really far out in the country so it’s a lot harder to pull those pranks than when I was a kid growing up in the city. Do you have a favorite ghost, ghoul, or gruesome creature? Or do you prefer cuddly creatures? There’s enough time to be cute and cuddly the rest of the year. Halloween is for ghouls!! The scarier the better. I love special effects make-up. The entire month of October I work at a local Haunted House called Shocktober and I’ve gotten really good at torn flesh, bloody gashes, and faces being ripped off. It’s so much fun scaring people. What inspired you to write the story A Grim Fairytale? This story was written as a birthday gift for a very dear friend of mine. He loved it ((and I saved money on wrapping paper! )) I’ve always wanted to write my own twisted fairytale and this story was so much fun to create. I tried to keep in the style of the Brothers Grimm, but of course with my own Grim flair. Do you have a favorite scene or static image from the plot? There are so many scenes I like, but my favorite is when Magda kills the piglet and Marcus brings it back to life. Even at a young age, it’s clear that Marcus is a pure soul and his mother can’t tarnish who he really is inside, no matter how much she tries. Magda means ‘maiden’ and Marcus is ‘dedicated to Mars’, the Roman god of fertility. Given how Marcus was conceived, were those name chosen as a subtle tweak of the characters for the storyline? I always put way too much thought into character development. Even if it’s a short story and I’m just scratching the surface on paper, I always have a complete backstory, even if only for myself. Not only do the names need to fit the character, I want it to feel like they have morphed into the personification of who they were made to be. Your story brings into a question of the duality of good and evil—how does each come into being and do they exist only with or without each other? How do you view that aspect of the A Grim Fairytale? I’m a big believer of the duality of good and evil, yin and yang, light and dark. You can’t have one without the other. My favorite lines from the story: “Everyone knows the tales of All Hallows Eve. On this night, the boundary between our world and the spirit world thins. For one night alone, demons can pass through to our realm. Yet as dark and terrifying as this night might be, out of the deepest darkest blackness comes the purest light.” Magda’s dark heart is balanced by Marcus’s wholesomeness. Do you have any other holiday-themed stories you’d like to mention, maybe ones that go beyond the spooky season? Yes! I have a Christmas story floating around out there called, “Mistletoe and Handgrenades.” It’s a flash fiction story about what happens after your life explodes and you now have to pick-up the pieces. It is a happy holiday treat. Check it out.

“Hello, William. I am glad you’re all right, and that we could save you before you were returned to the city. How’s your neck?” “It’ll be fine.” The raw weals stung, but were so far down on my list of things to care about, it wasn’t even humorous. I snapped my mouth shut on the words I wanted to say about their supposed rescue. “Teddy was hurt when we destroyed Shvesla’s machine. He has a damaged shoulder, and he’s recovering mentally. He can’t walk on his own.” Anna gestured to two men who fa

Happy Birthday!!!

Welcome to the Signature Author week. This month we're featuring KC's A Grim Fairytale, in honor of the Halloween season. Did you read it? If not, don't worry, my review won't spoil the story for you... but hopefully it will make you want to read it! If you haven't downloaded your background yet, get it here! A Grim Fairytale by KC Signature Author Length: 3,176 Status: Complete Reviewer: Cia Mention Grimm, and I’m in. I was a fan of the original tales with their non-Disney scenes and endings, so when I then read that this Grim family was much older and darker, I was eager to keep reading. The story soon reads with the ‘Once upon a time’ schtick, but then it definitely goes in a frightening direction. *Warning* The first part of this story is very dark, just like the reader is warned. We meet a queen bent on worshiping the dark side and dragging her people along with her. The ritual she performs actually summons the devil… but then things go very, very wrong. And that’s just the beginning of how Magda pays the price of her hubris. We’re introduced to Marcus, her son, but he’s not the heir she expected to have. His nature is very different from hers, and no matter what, he’s rooted firmly in his own path. That’s about as exact as I’m going to get on the plot. I’d hate to spoil this story, since there is still plenty of October left to enjoy the twisted tale. There are a lot of layers to the story. The names of the main characters, Magda and Marcus, both hold interesting meaning if you relate them to their scenes in the story. (Check out the interview on Wednesday for more information on this!) KC’s writing, as always, involves a lot of vivid imagery and action. The visuals of the ritual and following scene is especially chilling. There are some complex themes in this story beyond the traditional good versus evil that all fairy tales employ. I also found several subtle tidbits that readers can enjoy, too. Now, all good fairytales end with ‘And they all lived happily ever after’, but this is a Grim tale, so there’s no guarantee evil will get its comeuppance… or even that you’re rooting for good to triumph by the end of the story. That’s the best part of this short story—it’s full of the unexpected!

I had a great question--if only authors could freeze time (and all distractions) for an hour or two a day. I'm sure we could all write more, right? I'm happy to be featured with Aditus and Wolfwriter this Ask an Author post. Big thanks to Dark for organizing these events and posting such great tidbits about everyone!

“That machine will never work again,” I said loudly. “Even if you drag us back to the city, your hold on the city will fade. The people will wake up and realize how corrupt the nobles have become. They won’t stand for it. Not anymore.” “We keep them safe. It is this outside world they fear, and it will continue to keep them in the city,” Varket scoffed. “They will do as they are told or face eviction from the security keeping them alive.” If the people had cause to fear leaving the city, why d

It's a month for a variety of spooky treats, so I thought I'd bring you a few snack-sized Halloween short stories. These are 3 short stories by our site authors featuring a corn maze, a costume party at a bar, and a few zombies--what would Halloween be with a few ghouls, right? A Halloween Nightmare by Bill W Length: 5,895 Description: Colby is a college senior who’s looking forward to dressing up in his costume and spending Halloween having a good time at a gay bar. However, his evening of fun quickly turns into an enduring nightmare, but will it ever end? A Zombie Valentine by Gee Whillickers Length: 5,736 Description: Halloween parties, zombies, and teenagers. What could happen? King of the Corn Maze by Cynus Length: 4,679 Description: Every Halloween, Jack works at the "Haunted Corn Maze". Some years are more eventful than others, for sometimes the spirits of the harvest are called upon to protect those who who live within the boundaries of the corn field. The Discussion day for October will take place on Monday, October 26th. Don't miss out on your chance to enjoy the spooky spectaculars!

Good start! You set down a nice amount of world building without revealing too much all at once, and had it naturally come about in conversation. The massive amount of characters might be a little bit confusing, so keep that in mind from this point out that readers might have a hard time keeping the character details separate as you flesh them all out as events unfold. You may want to give Josh some scenes where he spends time with just a few characters, 1-3, instead of the whole group, to help reduce that. Best of all, you left readers with a lot of questions. Where is Josh from? Why doesn't he have his memories? How did he get in the Withers? What are all the kids doing, and why are they all together in the scums? These questions will keep people coming back for more chapters!

Sometimes protecting yourself, or your family members, is more important than any socially accepted idea of family bonds. I stopped talking to my grandad at the age of 16, and it was the best choice for me. Maybe not the right one, but it was the only response to the hatred flung my way. I left my dad and stepwitch's house at 17 and have not gone back for more than a few hours at a time since. I have never left my children alone with her. I refused to allow my sister to stay with me after she went off the rails and got her 3rd DUI over prescription drugs--2x with her kids in the car--because I have a lot of pain pills to deal with my health, and she proved she couldn't be trusted. Were any of these decisions easy? No. But I made them keeping mine and my family's best interests at heart, so we could remain physically and emotionally healthy.

Wildman set a brutal pace. For such a small, wiry guy, he could really move. I couldn’t go on much longer, and we were already deep in the jungle. “Can we take a break?” I gasped. I stumbled into a tree and stopped, my shoulder throbbing. Without its support, I probably would’ve dropped to my knees. “We’re exhausted.” Teddy hadn't said anything, but his feet had started dragging, leaving furrows in the thick loam. I hitched him closer to my side; my muscles burned, and my arm felt like it was g

Graeme's The Rainy Day is the CSR feature for September. I asked Graeme a series of questions about his time on GA and his story, which, considering the story is from a past anthology was kinda tricky of me. I hope you'll enjoy learning more about Graeme and his writing. He is a busy man, but he will be "live" on the site at 6 PM his time zone, which is 10 PM Pacific and 1 AM Eastern. For our night owls, YAY, and for the rest, make sure you add your questions beforehand so he can answer them then. You’ve been a member of GA for a long time. Is there one thing you’ve enjoyed most about the changes over the years? Without a doubt, it’s been the people. New authors, readers, and forum members. Each with their own personality and charm. I don’t like it when good friends move on, but there’s always someone new to get to know. In particular, the range of stories available now from all the new authors is amazing. That’s been building up every since I joined GA and it’s one of the most exciting parts of the site. You write a mix of short stories and novels. Do you have a preference? Not really. The two serve different purposes. The short stories are for those little ideas that I want to explore. Simple things or special circumstances. The novels are more for exploring bigger ideas. My first novel was exploring the impact on a straight guy when one of his friends comes out of the closet. The second was exploring a different way to present a story, trying to take advantage of online functionality that’s not available in print. My most recent two novels have been exploring the issue of homosexuality and sports. My short stories, are a lot more varied because I can approach each one from a fresh point of view. I’m not tied to any particular genre or situation; I can do what I want. I sometimes consider expanding some of those short stories into novellas or even novels, but there always seems to be something else to do, instead. What’s your favorite part of writing in general? The creation of something unique. The thrill of seeing the idea or scene in my mind taking form in the words on a screen. That’s what I enjoy the most. I love the feedback I get, but I’m not writing to attract readers. I’m writing because I want to write. If it ever became a chore, I wouldn’t do it. You have written several anthologies, but it’s been a while since you took part in one. Any particular reason for that? Sadly, yes. A number of years ago there were a series of massive bushfires near Melbourne; an event now known as the Black Saturday Bushfires. They came close to my home and deeply affected the community in which I live. We know people who lost everything in those fires, including people who lost family members. I was supposed to work the following Monday, but I couldn’t make my mind focus. I rang my boss to let him know I was taking the day off. He was just relieved to hear from me. He knew I lived in one of the affected areas. My clearest memory from that Monday was going through my closet and collecting all my old suits that no longer fitted me. I took them to the local church where they were collecting donations for people who weren’t allowed back into the bushfire areas to find out if they still had a home. Why was I donating my suits? Because those people needed them for the funerals of known victims: friends and families whose bodies had already been identified... I didn’t realise it at the time, but that was the beginning of several years without writing. I tried many times to start, but I couldn’t come up with anything. My muse was gone. It’s been slowly coming back, but I’ve found that I can only work on one thing at a time. I’m not able to write multiple stories at the same time. Since I’ve been writing about the Lilydale Leopards for the last two years, I haven’t been able to focus my mind onto any short stories, for the anthologies or otherwise. Since I’m currently between novels, at least as far as posting them is concerned, I’m going to try to write a couple of short stories. Whether one of those is for an anthology remains to be seen. When you wrote The Rainy Day for the anthology “Worth Fighting For” did the theme prompt the story, or did you have to work it in? Now you’re straining my memory. That was eight years ago! I believe that theme, in conjunction with the theme of the previous anthology, The Rainy Day, worked together to inspire the story. When combined, the old phrase about putting something aside for a rainy day just jumped out at me. Why would you put something aside? Because of something worth fighting for. After that, it was just a case of working out the circumstances. As a parent, was this story hard for you to write? Not really. While I know of so-called parents like Brat’s mother, and I know of people who are foster parents, I don’t have any personal contact with either situation. I’ve read enough, though, to be aware that it occurs way too often. Of course, in my opinion, once is way too often. Your main character, Brat, is a dichotomy. He’s hostile and yet dedicated to his siblings. Did you set out to make him this way, or did it evolve as you wrote the story? His apparent dichotomy stems from his motivation. I always try to give my characters motives for what they do, and in Brat’s case it was easy. He is protective and he has an Us-vs-Them attitude because of that protectiveness. ‛Us’ is his brother and sister. ‛Them’ is everyone else, including his mother. Because of his mother and her succession of boyfriends, Brat doesn’t trust other people. He’s had too many years of experience that told him that trusting people was a bad idea. Unfortunately, that mistrust extends to people who could be trusted, like Stephen. Brat’s not old enough to develop a strong sense of grey. To him, everything is black or white. People are either part of his family or they’re not. If they’re not, then they are a danger. Brat’s sarcasm leads to a lot of one-liners. Do you have a favorite? I think it would be when Brat snapped at school and yelled at Stephen about football boots: I don’t have parents who’ll buy me whatever I fucking want. I don’t even have parents who’ll buy me what I fucking need! It’s so easy for other people to not understand what it’s like to be poor. I’ll admit that I don’t really understand it, either, but I remember being told once about a counsellor who was trying to help a family who couldn’t make ends meet. The counsellor couldn’t tell them what they had to give up. All they could do was keep going through their expenses, pointing out the monthly phone bill, and silently hope that they would realise that, for them, a phone was a luxury. That’s where the comment in the story about not having a phone came from. For Brat, it was a luxury he couldn’t afford. Football boots were so far down the list it wasn’t funny, but Stephen didn’t understand. This story has a compelling theme that really draws the reader in emotionally. Do you find themes like this work their way into your writing often? I try to work with emotions a lot. To me, the situation the characters find themselves in is merely the setting that allows them to express how they feel. They do that in many different ways, but it’s the characters and what they feel that drives my stories, not the situation. That’s my goal. To put it another way, I try to write character-driven stories, not plot-driven. The type of character-driven story that appeals to me is where the characters have goals to strive for. It’s the striving towards that goal that makes the story. In this case, it’s Brat trying desperately to keep his family together. With the special anthology where authors can return to past anthology themes, do any of them draw your interest for jumping back into the anthologies? I’m sure there will be, but as I mentioned above, my muse is being temperamental at the moment. The anthology story that I had the most fun writing was the 2007 Fairy-Tale anthology, the same year as The Rainy Day. That’s the one I’d like to write another story for, but I don’t know if I’d be inspired as I was then. If I’m going to go back to a past anthology, I’d probably look at the ones during that period when I wasn’t writing. But I would have to find the inspiration first, and the tough part. Sorry, no promises (which, if I’m allowed to say it, isn’t a bad anthology theme itself). Thanks to Graeme for taking part in the CSR this month, and don't forget to leave your thoughts and questions for Graeme in the comments!

My 9 year old son plays that game. I'm so not into video games, but he loves it.

I agree with Renee. Nothing is being said about the great number of updates by the ENTIRE group of promoted authors or the content that was featured this week on the blog, just bickering--albiet good-natured--about who posted more. FYI, though, Classic authors are previously promoted authors we do not wish to demote but who are not actively posting, even if they are still members. Occasionally, these are authors who could be posting at one time or another, but don't wish the pressure of the need to remain actively writing and sharing content on the site consistently.

It's supposed to be clear here tonight, so I promised I'd make sure we could see it and then wake up my daughter so she could see it and take pictures.

Yep, poor Teddy. He's lost in the weeds, for sure! More on Wildman will be revealed in future chapters.

Aww, I love Teddy too. His character really fits his name and all the squeezing hugs he makes me want to give him. They're definitely not safe, and there is a lot left in the air still. More coming on Wednesday! (sorry this one was late, I forgot to post here. Whoops!!)

Getting out was only the first step! Definitely not in the clear yet. Thanks for the review, Valkyrie!!

Thanks so much, Cyn!! Teddy's reaction is definitely worrying, but they've been through a lot, plus he was injured.

Nothing was ever simple. We got out of my house—I didn’t even feel the need to look back. My family could reap what they’d sowed if the king came after them. I felt no sympathy for people who could sell their own son. But we’d only gone a few streets before guards began stomping down the main thoroughfare. I pulled Teddy with me into an alley as six passed us, their boots thudding against the cobbles. When it fell quiet, I slowly peeked my head around the corner of the building. They’d left a

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