Friday Free Read: Friday Night

Every Friday night, I had a little routine.  It was a simple routine, very mundane… one might normally think nothing of it.  I sure didn’t, in the beginning.  I simply did it to relax, to unwind after a long week and prep myself for the fun of the upcoming weekend, refreshed and feeling good.

 

 

Every Friday night I made it a point to take a long, luxurious shower.  Not like the quick five-minute rinse-downs I took every morning before work to wash my hair and face, and maybe shave my legs if I had an extra minute.  No, my Friday night showers were for me.  They were warm, indulgent escapes—I lit candles and turned on music, and I took my time bathing, enjoying the warm spray of the water, feeling the smooth, pleasant texture of my favorite body wash as I rubbed it all over my skin.

Like I said, it seems like it would have been innocent enough.  And for a long, long time, it was. Then, the new neighbors moved in.

Friday Free Read: Lead Me Not...

This week's Free Read takes place in the world of the Four Courts; the urban fantasy series begun with Goblin Fires. Lead Me Not features one of the lovely Winter Royals: Talaith, Fourth Daughter of Oberon. If you've read Goblin Fires, this short story takes place before the events of that book.

Talaith recognized the perfume the moment she stepped into one of the private alcoves backstage. Jasmine and hibiscus: a scent all at once nostalgic, bittersweet, and arousing. Even in the pounding atmosphere of Frostbite, the New York nightclub owned and operated by the Winter Court—her court, in other words—that subtle scent stole all of Talaith's attention. 

"Kymera," she mused in a tone of playful exasperation. "What a pleasant surprise."