Teaser Tidbit: The Winter Palace

 

I wanted to post this yesterday for Teaser Tuesday, but ran out of time, so we'll do a bonus Wednesday teaser instead. 

I don't know if I've ever fully explained what's going on with The Winter Palace...? So let me do that now. I called it a novella originally, and I'm still not sure whether the page count will land it in that category or not (though I suspect, given my long-winded tendencies with SoR, that it'll easily hit novel length), but I decided several years ago that I had too much content to cram into Lionheart. Hence, The Winter Palace. It takes place in Buffalo, NY, at Trina's family compound out in the woods, and it handles the post Golden Eagle fallout of Nikita's pack. A quiet moment for all of them to catch their breath gains tension by slow degrees until they reach a decision point: keep to themselves? Or commit fully to Vlad's impending war? 

We'll get lots of slow beats, quiet moments, and relationship building amongst our major players. We have a chance to see some new dynamics form between characters, and we explore everyone's powers in a less stressful environment. 

Every time I work on this, I feel like a kid playing with new toys on Christmas day. I love these characters so much, and this book is going to be very self-indulgent, and very fun for anyone who loves them. 

“I forget, sometimes,” she admitted. “That you’re—”

“A campy C-list horror movie villain?”

“Different,” she amended. “And then you’ll say or do something that makes me remember, and it’s…no, don’t,” she said, when he started to say something else. “And then it’s…jarring. For a second.”

His gaze narrowed. “Do people say ‘jarring’ out loud? I’m asking seriously here. I thought that was just shit people said in books.”

“Well,” she said, fighting the tug of a smile. “I’m saying it now.” More seriously: “It’s jarring sometimes. But then I get over it. It’s like…”

A real smile cut across his face, sly and pleased, and she realized he was about to fill in the blank for her.

She sighed. “What?”

“It’s like you’re dating Clark Kent, and then it hits you.” He smacked his hands together. “‘Damn. I’m dating Superman.’” He made a face. “Shit, wait. Superman sucks.”

Trina shook her head and started walking again. “Okay, which superhero does the grown-ass man want his new reality to resemble?”

“Tough call. I’m gonna have to go with Wolverine.”

“Interesting. You going to grow the sideburns out?”

“I’ll have to check with my girlfriend.”