So, I’m hard at work on the next installment of my demon series – any guesses on the next color? – but in this post let’s reminisce about my last offering. Big, beautiful and green, Lucky could fix anything, and our heroine Lou loved him for it.
Enjoy this snippet from How to Love a Green Demon. Y’all know I love world building, and in it I offer you a glimpse of Lucky as a cub with his parents, before he ever comes to Earth.
Shall I start dropping snippets from the new book in a few weeks?
Peace,
SS
“They would abandon our cub to the mercy of the winds if it would save their selfish necks!” She spat into the dirt, pacing angrily. “Do you see how quickly they all agree? They don’t even think! They just nod their heads and follow along like a herd of jurts, caring for nothing but pecking the dirt for seeds.
“I swear, Sansone. They would send him off today if I let them. A cub! Barely able to speak, let alone feed or fend for himself.”
“He will not go yet. We won’t allow it. He must have time to grow and mature, to learn to defend himself. But eventually,” he said gently. “You know that he must go, my love.”
“No.”
“We talked about this.”
Sucire stood proud, her long legs braced, narrow bare feet gripping the ground as though she’d been planted, sprung up as straight and strong as a centuries old tree.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
“You cannot, my love. When the sky demons found a suitable world and identified a home for him, you agreed.”
“He’s too young. How can we consider sending him away from his forest? I am not at all sure about these so called humans. I suppose they’re nice enough, but I don’t trust them. They wear too many clothes and sit too much. They cover their faces to block the zin. It’s unnatural. No, it’s out of the question. I won’t have it. Maybe in a few more seasons I will consider it. For now he is much too small. He needs his mother, his family. We cannot trust his welfare to strangers, no matter how well they have been vetted. He is ours to protect.”
“You know he is special, my heart. Brilliant though a child. Strong though he is yet tiny in stature. But his place is not here. We all love him, but he must be trained in the blue world with the humans. You saw the vision yourself. It was ordained.”
“No!”
“My love –”
She turned fierce yellow gold eyes on him. “My love, my love! You will not get ‘round me with sweet talk. I say no! You will not send my youngest away from his home. I refuse. The seer is no doubt mistaken.”
“Of a prophecy distilled at his birth,” Sansone chided gently.
Her shoulder slumped, but it was no more than a second before they straightened again, his proud queen.
“He’ll think we don’t love him,” she whispered.
When the tears fell he took her in his arms and led her deeper into the trees where she sobbed her heart out in private for some minutes.
A small hand tucked itself in hers. “Mim,” said a child’s voice. “Qi e tyr?” What’s wrong?
“Oh, my darling,” Sucire whispered, pulling her youngest into her arms. She kissed his silky black hair, stroked his deep green skin, warm and plump and soft with youth and the medicinal waters of the lock. He was growing too quickly, hastening the time when he would leave her arms. His language skills increased each hour and she wanted to curse and scream stop! Be my baby forever. “How I love you. Never forget that will you?”
He shook his head, then grinned at her, kissing her cheek. “No! I love you too, Mim. You no be sad.”
She laughed at his imperious little tone, her deep rasping chuckle making his tummy happy as it always did. “Okay. If you say so. And how much do you love your Mim, my darling?”
“Forever, my Mim!” he cried, throwing his arms wide as though he would embrace the whole world, and not just his forest.
“Good,” she said. “For that is just a fraction of how much I love you, my darling Lucire.”
“Mim,” he said, hugging her neck tight. “Did say us go on trip!”
“Yes,” she whispered. But you my lovely boy, will not be returning home with us. And I don’t know if I can bear it…
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Sherrod Story - Here lies your book boyfriend...naked. 