This week I’m still snippeting from my new release, Captive and the Cursed (Heartsbane Saga book 1).
Last week the main MC, Nyah, got into a bit of an argument with her betrothed when he took her chicken and she demanded his cow. There were some comments about why she’s with him if they don’t seem to have much in common. Let’s skip ahead a bit and find out!
In this scene, Nyah’s made it home and is talking with her younger sister, Payton.
* * * * * * *
“I got our chicken back.”
Payton slowly climbed down from the loft, a scowl on her thin, pale face. “I dinnae know why you even put up with Wynne.”
“Wynne isn’t so bad. He means well, even though he did take our chicken.” I continued watching Father, who was now gesturing to a robin perched on the garden fence. “With no dowry, I should be fortunate that Earc [the village chief and Wynne’s father] even agreed to our betrothal.”
Payton snorted.
“We’ll make sure to focus on a marriage of love for you,” I promised.
* * * * * * *
And here’s the rest of that scene:
“I dinnae want to marry, especially no one in this village.”
“Not even Dar Gheen?” I teased. I’d seen her walking with the young smith several times over the past month.
Payton blushed. “No.
“He’d be a fine match.”
She avoided looking at me. “If Father were well, he would find us better matches.”
“Father isn’t well.”
We’d had this conversation hundreds of times. Our father was a merchant, often gone for months at a time. Five years ago he’d returned home for the last time, missing a hand and feverishly babbling about barbarian curses and stolen treasure. We’d tried questioning him but his mind was gone. On good days he would sit in a rocking chair by the fire or in the garden, humming and talking to himself. On bad days he raved about the cottage, smashing whatever he could reach before collapsing and spending the following days or weeks in bed, too weak to get up. Payton held out hope he’d return to his former self; I’d accepted the worst and tried my best to provide for the three of us.
Payton joined me at the window and leaned her forehead against the glass. “If I were to marry, however, I would want it to be a prince, or one of the merchants who passes through and travels the world. Or a traveling prince.” She wrinkled her nose. “Wynne is none of those things. Why, he can’t even write his own name.”
“He can write his own name! He just can’t write anything besides it.”
* * * * * * *
Captive and the Cursed is available now at Amazon, or you can read more of Storm’s exploits in the prequel short story, “The Maiden in the Tower,” for just $.99. Then post a link to your eight-ten sentence blog entry or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.
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About Captive and the Cursed:
She must choose: follow her head or follow her heart?
Nyah’s merchant father raised her and her younger sister Payton on tales of treasure and excitement, but after he returns home from his latest trip addle-minded, Nyah must put aside her dreams of adventure and focus on more practical matters, like her betrothal to the illiterate son of the village chief. But when a roving band of barbarians kidnap Payton and the village leaders do nothing to rescue her, Nyah has no choice but to take matters into her own hands. She offers herself in her sister’s place, doomed to travel with the barbarian army until their price is paid.
The army is led by Brandulfur, a man who suffers from a hideous, painful curse. Although he’s officially in her country to aid his childhood friend in raising an army to support the king, he’s on a personal quest for the book that holds the cure for his curse – a book that Nyah soon realizes her father stole from him.
Determined to return to her family, she’ll need all the allies she can get. But no one is who they seem, including the people closest to her. She’ll have to make hard choices if she wants her life to be the same as before – but is that even what she wants anymore?
Captive and the Cursed is the first book in a series of fairy tales retold in a world of Vikings. If you like sassy heroines, adventures spanning the medieval world, and a touch of romance, you’ll love The Heartsbane Saga, E.D. Martin’s new historical fantasy series.
The books: Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor: 
Today’s Friday Five focus is 
1. Where do your inspiration and ideas for your stories come from?
It’s been a crazy week! We started off getting one of those things that can only happen in 2020, like murder hornets and Tiger King – a hurricane in the Midwest. My power was knocked out for about 50 hours due to the 90mph derecho winds that swept through, and while my house was okay, there’s a ton of damage in the area that’s still getting cleaned up. The widespread power outage (about 125,000 people, or roughly half in my city) affected businesses and services too, leaving me to conclude that there just is no new normal anymore and never will be again.
