I already (sometimes, when I can get the courage) do WIP Wednesdays elsewhere, mostly on Discord and occasionally on Twitter. Since I’m trying to make a place for myself here, maybe I will start doing it here, too.

Here’s a bit I’m currently working on from a still-untitled book. It takes place in 1200 Lin’an, China (today Hangzhou) during the Song dynasty. In the timeline of my books, it’s set around the time of The Witchblood Heir, when the black and white fey courts in the West have been established.

The main character of this book, Laurel, shows up for the first time in Winter Sun, the 3rd book about Nice—which means he lives to be very old indeed. I liked him so much that I wanted to write about him even more, which of course meant learning about where he came from. I’ve been enjoying this project very much, although the heavy research has been stretching me in interesting and challenging new ways. So far I’m about 43k into this project.

Anyway! Without further ado, the snippet for today:

“Sleep,” Li Qiuyue says then, as though she’s just remembered that Laurel is still a child and needs rest. Her severe expression softens but only to become a little bewildered, as though she’s confused by this. “We’ll get to the capital soon. You should rest if you’re tired.”

“But I’ve already slept so much.”

“Are you tired?”

He feels the deep exhaustion in the heart of him, the weight in his bones. It’s true that he’s more tired than he has been in years, and he nods slowly.

“Then sleep.”

Laurel has forgotten some of this conversation as the years have passed, and he will forget many more. These words, however, have imprinted themselves, indelible upon his mind—Li Qiuyue’s picture of a fair world.

Maybe it was the way that she said them. There was a weight to her voice, as though she was condemning the world. There was a heavy, burning look in her eyes, as though she was seeing and judging all that she could see.