Yeah, I’m subjecting you all to my blathering twice in one day. Again. But a blog I just started following posted her WIPpet wednesday excerpt, and I went to have a look at other people’s… it’s just way too much fun! Parties all over the place today- works in progress AND it’s Jae at Lit and Scribbles’ blogiversary. Aww!

So here’s how it goes: you post a short bit from a current work in progress that somehow relates to the day’s date. So today being the 13th, you get an itty bitty sample of chapter 13… which hasn’t been hit by final revisions yet, but this part probably won’t change much.

Background: This chapter is told by Aren, who is… well, to know him is to be confused by him. He and Rowan just escaped from a hairy situation that might have helped her trust him a little more, but the fact that he’s manipulating people’s minds is probably still too much for her, the poor lamb. 😉

(not the beginning or end of the scene, not even the beginning of that first paragraph… because of all the reasons. Just trust me.)

**

I didn’t like hiding, especially in a spot that would have been so difficult to escape from, but it hadn’t been all bad. It was cramped and uncomfortable, and being there left us too vulnerable, but that hadn’t kept me from enjoying having her body pressed against mine for a few minutes.

“Did you really give those people memories that weren’t real?” she whispered after the groom left to collect our things, pulling me out of thoughts that I shouldn’t have been having.

“In a way.”

“And you made that other guy kill his brother?” She looked like she was afraid to hear my answer, but I wasn’t going to lie to her about it.

“Yes.”

“What were you just doing to that man who just left?”

“What I had to. Nothing that will hurt him, so don’t worry about it.”

She stepped away from me and rubbed the horse’s nose. “It seems wrong, though.”

“I didn’t see you jumping in to distract him,” I whispered back as the groom returned with food and clean bedrolls. “You’re benefiting from this at least as much as I am. If you don’t like it, find your own cure.” She held my gaze for a moment, then looked away and turned to saddle her horse. I knew I wasn’t being nice; she was probably confused about everything that was happening, but I was exhausted and in no mood to feel like a villain for trying to help her.

She was silent as we rode away from the inn, through the still-quiet village and past a faded sign that advised us to “Come again soon!” Not bloody likely, I thought. I’d be lucky to survive the next week if I couldn’t stop being distracted or falling into deep sleep. Keeping us safe was turning out to more challenging than I’d anticipated.

Rowan seemed to be turning things over in her mind for the next while, which was fine with me. It was well into the morning before she spoke again. She didn’t turn toward me, but watched out of the corner of her eye. “Have you done that to me at all?”

I’d wondered how long it would take her to ask. “No. Not once.”

“How can I be sure of that? You could be making me think that I was making my own decisions but really you’ve been doing it for me, and making me not notice that what I was doing was strange, or-”

Even though I was feeling frustrated and nearly too tired to think, it was hard not to laugh at her. “Rowan?”

“What?”

“You’re not worth that much trouble.”

**

So there you go, my lovely readers. Out of context, short, probably confusing, but that’s a bit of chapter 13 for you. If you would like to see what others have posted today, the links are here, all conveniently conglomerated for your convenient consumption*. Thank you to K.L. Schwengel for hosting the whole shebang. Enjoy!

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*No, I have not been watching “V for Vendetta.” But now I want to.