Well, it's been a while since I posted from the novel I'm working on. Since then, I decided to change the novel from third person to first person, and started rewriting it. I even changed the title! I know, I'm a bit too impulsive for my own good. Though I'm sure my parents are merely happy that my impulsiveness is directed towards writing and not life. Here's a little excerpt. Hope you enjoy!
Breakfast
was served promptly at seven. When I entered the small dining hall,
Nathan was alone, looking out the window. At the sound of my steps he
turned, and for just a moment his face was unguarded, and I saw an
expression of pain on his face. But it was gone in a second, replaced
by cool eyes that said a thousand things. They were questions and
answers that made no sense to me. His hand rested on the back of a
chair, and I noticed a long scar that ran down the length of it. I
raised my eyes slowly, and he was watching me.
“How
d..did you sleep?” he asked quietly. It was the first time I had
heard him speak, but his voice was so low that I could hardly hear
the stutter.
“Well,”
I said hesitantly. For a moment more we stood there, each lost in our
own thoughts. Would he ask me about the names under the painting?
What would I tell him if he did?
Jeremiah
and Elizabeth arrived together.
“Good
morning,” Elizabeth sang, and then stopped as she saw the serious
looks on Nathan's and my face. Jeremiah's face betrayed an expression
of questioning, and again I knew that I needed to be careful. This
family was knowing, intuitive. They liked to laugh, but they loved
truth. I sensed this, and it scared me. Jeremiah moved to my side, and I
forced my eyes to his face.
“How
are you this morning?” he asked pleasantly.
“I'm fine.”
“Just fine?” he teased.
“Well,
it has been a whole eight hours since I last saw your face.”
Jeremiah
grinned.
“You're
a good student. You're picking up our sarcastic ways quickly.”
“Perhaps
I learned them from someone else. And perhaps I was not being
sarcastic.”
Jeremiah
raised an eyebrow.
“Well
then. You must introduce us to your teacher.”
It
suddenly seemed to me that everything this family said was
calculated, intentional. There were no idle words. Even Elizabeth's
outspokenness seemed to be a cover for secrets. And yet for some
reason it did not appear fake, or dark. I truly believed that they
were sincere, but were they covering secrets as I was? The thought
frightened me. A marriage could not be based off deceit, no matter
what the reason.
My
father and theirs arrived together, talking in interested tones about
the upcoming hunt.
Their
father excused the queen, saying that she had decided to sleep in, as
she was very tired from the day before.
“Is
she all right?” Nathan asked quickly, and I sensed deep concern.
His
father's eyes shifted to the window. “She will be fine,” he said
quietly, and Nathan nodded, apparently still unassured. Jeremiah
seated me, and I tried to calm myself. I felt that I always had to be
on my guard, protecting my past, protecting myself from the
bewilderment that I knew was pending in the back of my mind.
