#mm fantasy

[bookishtrash]

Many Captive Prince fans keep telling me to try Ariana Nash’s books. I’ve just started reading King of the Dark, and Prince Vasili has me in a chokehold by looks alone 😂⚜️

#mm books #mm fantasy #bookblr #captive prince #c.s. pacat #ariananash #king of the dark #read this book #m/m romance #current read #I wanna stay up and read this till 2AM #It’s only been two chapters #fantasy books #book quotes #bookworm

[not-poignant]

Fae Tales - The Nascent Diplomat (Gwyn/Augus)

Pairing: Augus Each Uisge/Gwyn ap Nudd

Tags: Fae politics, past child abuse, past sexual abuse, developing relationship, slow burn, mind games, Unseelie Court (See fic for more tags)

Summary: Augus is summoned by the Unseelie King of the fae to test out his hand at being a diplomat with a secretive, cave-dwelling race of fae known as the vench. He is sent to the remote region of Aethelwaters to strike up a trade deal, with the King’s Mage and executioner - Gwyn ap Nudd - as his bodyguard.

They come face to face with a closed culture largely unreceptive to newcomers, initiations to test their merit, an unusual way of feeding, and pitfalls and traps at every turn. Will it drive the shaky foundation between Gwyn and Augus further apart? Or bring them together?

Fae Tales - 42/? - The Nascent Diplomat - Gwyn/Augus on AO3!

In which Gwyn and Kimerrin share some bonding time between the two of them, and Gwyn realises he's closer to Kimerrin than he previously realised. His magic makes a leap in healing that he was too scared to hope for.

Chapter 43 of The Nascent Diplomat is available now for early release, for folks in the Augus & Gwyn+ tiers on Patreon and Ream!

In which the vench start saying their goodbyes to Augus, who is ready to leave. However, he soon realises that Gwyn is experiencing their farewells not as a peaceful moving on, but as abandonment, and his concern grows.

#chapter update #the nascent diplomat #fae tales #fae tales au #augus each uisge #gwyn ap nudd #original work #original writing #mm romance #mm fantasy #queer romance #hurt/comfort #whump #angst with a happy ending #stories about every kind of intimacy as long as it's not intimacy that involves penetrative sex #idk why i decided to do it that way this time but i did

[azarielwrites]

NEXT FRIDAY 🩸

The title of my upcoming WIP will be officially revealed on Friday the 13th! Do look forward to what's to come this spooky season and onward! 🦇

#am writing #title reveal #wip #friday the 13th #mm romance #mm fantasy

[brynwrites]

New Release!

M/M Fantasy ~ ODDER STILL

It’s finally here, ya’ll! I’m so thrilled to share with you all my very queer magical romp through an underwater steampunk city of selkies, featuring a fishnet-loving overtired gay. 

Rubem is plenty happy keeping to his wine, his pets, and his extensive collection of fishnets. 

But when a sentient parasite latches to his brainstem, he’s forced out of his comfortable—if lonesome—life in search of someone in the nearby underwater steampunk city who can safely remove it. 

Here though, both the power-hungry rebels and the tight-gripped monopolies want to viciously dissect his parasite for its energy-producing abilities, and the only person offering him sincere help is the dashing and manipulative philanthropist selkie at the center of all the city’s chaos. 

Odder Still is a M/M fantasy novel with a interracial, class-crossing slow burn romance, murderous intrigue, and a parasite-human friendship in an underwater steampunk city. 

It is the first in a series, each with a romantically fulfilling ending and a final HEA, with steamy thoughts and foreplay but no explicit sex. (Content warnings for alcohol consumption and animal death.)

You can...

- Buy on Amazon (or read through KU!)

- Buy elsewhere (paperback and hardcover only)

Or add on Goodreads!

Who am I? Just your friendly neighborhood disabled trans author, writing queer speculative fiction and fantasy romance. I have three books out in the These Treacherous Tides universe, and a series of achillean vampire romances coming in the fall! Learn more through my website.

#queer fiction #lgbt books #mm fantasy #m/m fiction #fantasy romance #writeblr #disabled character #lgbt characters #new books #gay fantasy #writers on tumblr

[caranox]

I've decided I'm going to start hyping up my current WIP on Fridays to keep myself motivated and accountable 😤 So today I'm going to post my mood board for A HUNT OF BLOOD & IRON #2, my achillean (m/m) romantic fantasy series set in a post-apocalyptic world reclaimed by the fae.

#wip #mm fantasy #mm romance #writers on tumblr

[nightnoxreads]

Currently Reading

I just plowed through the first two books in this series and am just staring this third one. I’m obsessed!

#lily mayne #book recommendations #monstrous series #mm fantasy #monster romance

[mollyringle]

Lava Red Feather Blue if it had AO3 tags

I've seen people say that they'd love to have AO3-style tags for novels. As a longtime fandom person, I concur! So, for fun, here is what the listing for Lava Red Feather Blue might look like if it were a fic on AO3. For now, I chose from tags that actually exist there, rather than inventing my own (although inventing one's own tags is very AO3). Feel free to suggest more if you've read the book! 🙂

Title: Lava Red Feather Blue Rating: M (mature) Main pairing: male/male Relationship: Merrick Highvalley/Prince Larkin of Eidolonia, Duke of Ormaney Words: 115,012

Tags: Fae & Fairies Royalty Mild Hurt/Comfort Adventure & Romance Slow Dancing Saving the World Only One Bed Falling in Love Fluff and Angst Mild Smut

Notes: This fic now has FANART by the amazing @ace-artemis-fanartist! Squeeee!

#lava red feather blue #ao3 #ao3 tags #novels #mm fantasy #fandom #just for fun

[chrisbannor]

Elements of Change

Chapter Nine: The Fight

Author: Chris Bannor

Ezo crept behind Kammon, trying to imitate the man’s movements as they got closer to the raider’s camp. Above the trees, he spotted a flash of red that quickly disappeared. Ember had vanished but every so often she made herself seen in brief bursts of color. If he wasn’t looking for her, he wouldn’t have seen her at all.

The camp was two miles from the road and he could see a couple wagons on the outside of their camp. It was hard to see inside it, but the clearing was small enough that it couldn’t be a large group. They had an elementalist though and he and Kammon needed to keep an eye out for that. He could sense the elementalist somewhere, but that meant if the other was looking, they could sense Ezo and Kammon as well.

Kammon stopped and motioned Ezo to his side. “I’ll go in first. Watch my back,” he whispered.

“What if you need help in there?”

Kammon glared. “This isn’t my first battle, Ezo. It is yours though. You might be good with a natural disaster, but you haven’t fought anything that fights back.”

Ezo wanted to argue, but Kammon had it right. He was inexperienced. He let Kammon take the lead, but he wasn’t going to be far behind him. He nodded.

Kammon’s eyes thinned, like he was waiting for Ezo to argue, then he huffed. “Just do as I say.” Kammon stayed crouched along the tree line and moved closer.

As they approached, Ezo could see that the wagons created a wall around their camp. He caught Kammon’s hand and stopped him. He recognized the wagon he’d been traveling in. It was Alvrey’s.

Kammon’s brows furrowed as he looked at Ezo. Ezo pointed to the wagon. Kammon mouthed the word “Yours?” and Ezo nodded. Kammon’s mouth turned down and his frown softened to something more like sympathy. Ezo didn’t see the other wagons from the players though and that had to mean something, right? He refused to think the raiders had killed his friends. Until he found proof, he would keep looking.

Kammon gave him a minute, but as they continued to look at each other, the elementalist nodded at him with a question in his eyes. Ezo returned the nod. He was ready.

Kammon closed in on the opening in the wagons and Ezo stayed behind him, giving him space to work. Ezo watched the red spiral of flames circle around him as he stood up straight and walked into the camp.

There were loud shouts from inside and Ezo saw Kammon pull air around him. It jumped from Kammon’s hands in a large blast. At the same time, he felt magic behind him. He turned, bringing a shield of earth up between him and the magic. It broke on the wall of earth, and Ezo sidestepped it to see what was coming for him. The elementalist that had joined the raiders was juggling the white-blue spheres of air around him as he prepared another attack.

Ezo didn’t wait.  He ran, closing the distance between them, and used his magic to pick up the earth around him, throwing it in darts at the other man. He dodged, but more than one hit his extremities. Ezo saw blood welling on more than one spot but he didn’t have time for remorse. He reached the man and cocked his fist back, striking him square in the nose. The man stumbled back and swiped out with a wild burst of air that pushed Ezo back.

Ezo dug his hands into the ground and it started to shake where the man was standing. He struggled to get his footing, but Ezo didn’t give him time. He pulled a block of earth from the ground and aimed it at the man’s head. It hit with a heavy thunk and the man fell unconscious to the ground.

Ezo built another block of earth around him, pinning him to the ground in case he woke.

When he looked behind him, he froze.

There wasn’t one elementalist with the raiders. There were four, and three of them were attacking Kammon. The man’s magic whirled around him in feats that Ezo couldn’t begin to understand. Fire danced among water and air pushed at his enemies. Kammon wasn’t just holding his own, he was winning.

But it couldn’t last. Ezo could still feel the echoes of him from their first bonding. He didn’t have the stamina to keep up this fight.

Ezo couldn’t take his place, couldn’t even understand how Kammon was using the elements as he was, but he could give him the power he needed to fight.

He ran forward, pulling his gloves off as he screamed Kammon’s name so he didn’t startle the man into attacking him. He pressed a hand against Kammon’s back to brace himself and used the other to touch the nape of the man’s neck. As soon as his magic touched the bare skin, he felt the bond flare between them again.

He pushed his magic into Kammon and felt the other man accept the magic, felt the pull as their strength combined and Kammon fought off the other elementalists. He wasn’t aware of how Kammon used the elements separately but at the same time, he instinctively reached for them with Kammon’s consciousness to guide him.

One of the elementalists was caught in a sphere of water. Ezo’s horror was distanced by Kammon’s need to contain his enemies. As the man passed out, the water broke around him and reformed, digging into the earth below another, turning it into sludge that caused the man to stumble as he tried to cast his magic.

Fire continued to rage against the third elementalist. He was the strongest, holding off Kammon’s attacks. As the other elementalist fell into the mud, Ezo tried to call out to Kammon, but he had no voice. Instead, Kammon seemed to feel his urgency and earth surrounded the man, crushing him into the ground until he stopped moving.

With the others out of the fight, Kammon turned his full attention to the last elementalist. It was a fight of strength and stamina. The other man wasn’t near as strong as Kammon, but Kammon was worn from the battle while the raider had saved his strength until now.

He felt something moving in Kammon but didn’t understand what it was. Then, as he looked around Kammon’s body to the other elementalist, he saw it. A streak of red and gold as Ember flew from her perch above the fight. She dove from behind the other man and Ezo saw the moment she became an arrow, piercing the man’s chest and emerging on the other side.

The man fell and Ember disappeared in a spray of blood.

Kammon stumbled and Ezo lost contact with him. The man fell to his knees and Ezo barely kept his own feet as the bond was released. He felt bile rise in his throat, but he swallowed it down as he grabbed Kammon’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Kammon nodded and brushed his hand away, but he didn’t get up. Ezo walked away from him and stepped properly into the raider’s camp. There were three men on the ground, weapons fallen into the pools of blood that surrounded them. There was no one else there. He lumbered over to Alvrey’s wagon and opened the door of the cabin area. It was empty and he was torn between relief that they weren’t there, and fear of what had happened to them on the road.

He closed his eyes, but everything hit at once, and he staggered to the corner and held himself upright on the wagon as his stomach emptied.

He sat heavily on the wagon’s footboard and took a deep breath.  He told Kammon he’d do what he had to, but he’d never really believed the raiders would fight like that.

A canteen was placed in his hand and he looked up at Kammon. He hadn’t heard the other man approach. He looked pale and Ezo saw the tremor in his hand as he handed the water over, but he was upright. “Are you okay?” he echoed Ezo’s earlier words.

He took a drink before he answered. “I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry it came to this.”

“What happened to them?” he asked, pointing to the other bodies.

“When I stepped in I realized there was more than one elementalist. I didn’t have time to do anything else. I used a blast of air to knock them all to the ground. The blast killed the raiders, except the elementalists that managed to shield themselves.”

“You didn’t try to subdue them. Just kill.”

“Should I have waited for one of them to stick a knife in me while I fought off three elementalists? Knowing you were fighting a fourth behind me?” He scoffed at the idea. “I don’t want to kill, but I will not risk my life for murdering raiders. They won’t harm the locals any longer, and that’s what I came here to do.”

Ezo wasn’t even sure he could argue. When he was bonded to Kammon, it had been a fight for survival. He didn’t blame the man. He just never wanted to see this side of a fight before.

“Your friends?” Kammon asked as he sat on the other side of the footboard.

“Not here.”

“Was this the most ornate of their wagons?”

“No,” Ezo said as he looked up at it. “In fact, this was the most basic. Alvrey’s wagon was for healing, not for the show. Why would they have taken this and not the others?”

Kammon looked behind him and peered through the door. “There doesn’t seem to be any damage done to it either. I think we still need to find your friends. They may still be ahead of us on the road.”

“You think so?”

“I think the wagon would have more damage if there was a fight. We’ll rest tonight and pack what we can into the wagon, then take it to the next village, along with the surviving raiders. Hopefully, we’ll meet your friends on the road.”

“Alright.”

“Do you know any of these herbs?” Kammon asked as he climbed into Alvrey’s wagon. “Would any of them knock our prisoners out?”

Ezo nodded. “I know how to make a sleep tonic that should do it.”

“You start on that and I’ll start cleaning up the camp.”

He knew what that meant and he grabbed his hand before he could walk away. Kammon looked at the hand on his and slowly met Ezo’s eyes. “And later you’ll be explaining that.”

He swallowed against a tight throat but ignored Kammon’s words. “Can you do what you need alone?”

Kammon looked away, staring at the ground before he answered. “No. The bond is strong enough to stay open without touch right now. Will you allow it?”

It was another thing his uncle said was impossible.  “How?”

Kammon looked at him then and pressed his hands together in front of his chest. As the magic came to Kammon, it reached toward him. Ezo held his hands out in the same manner and pulled his own magic around him.  He met the faltering wisps of Kammon’s magic with his own. He felt the bonding then and let out a deep breath.

Kammon lowered his head as he spoke. “Thank you.” He walked off before Ezo could respond.

He felt Kammon in the back of his head though, and in his soul, like a ghost hiding in Ezo’s mind. He looked down at his hand and thought of all the impossible things Jacob had spoken of. Of all the things Kammon was showing him to be untrue.

He didn’t want to have that conversation, but after everything else, he owed Kammon the truth.

Even if Jacob had warned that the truth in the wrong hands could cost him his life.

Author's Note: If Kammon is strong enough to talk all those men on when he's exhausted, what do you think he's capable of when he's at full strength?

#elements of change #mm fantasy #chris bannor #lgbt fiction #lgbt fantasy #free reads

[bookishtrash]

#captive prince #princes gambit #kings rising #c.s. pacat #laurent of vere #damen captive prince #damen of akielos #mm books #mm fantasy #bookblr #book meme #captive prince memes

[ktyarrow]

Coming in October!

Eben Savage spends most of his time pretending he doesn’t have magic. It’s a painful reminder of the mother he inherited it from and lost. But when a girl is killed by dark magic just outside of town, Eben is the only one who might have the power to stop her killer—if he can actually get his wonky magic to listen to him, that is.

He doesn’t count on falling for her brother, a handsome and surly werewolf named Drystan Lowell, who tells him that his entire bloodline has been killed in the same ritualistic way as his sister. Now, Eben is the only thing standing between Drystan and certain death. With his friends caught in the crossfire and his crush’s life on the line, Eben will have to reckon with the supernatural side of himself to keep Drystan from becoming the killer’s final victim.

#writing #writeblr #self publishing #writer stuff #savage moon #writers of tumblr #authors #my writing #lgbtq books #queer books #mm fantasy #mm romance #teen romance #found family #slow burn #werewolves #magic #urban fantasy #fantasy novel #fantasy fiction #lgbtq fiction #ya books #ya fiction #new books #coming soon #novel #new release

[tenderlywicked]

My books will be on sale on Smashwords until January 1st, in case you want to read something spicy in the new year :) And so will be the novels of my friend and colleague from Evernight Publishing Katherine Wyvern. She's been through a rough patch lately, so it would be really, really nice to cheer her up with sales and/or reviews. By the way, her books A Muse to Live For and Spice & Vanilla were voted Best Transgender Romance(s) of 2018-2019 at the Rainbow Awards!

#mm romance #m/m #gay romance #mm fantasy #transgender books #queer fantasy #queer romance #incubus #paranormal romance

[lou-wilham]

The Prince of Starlight//MM Original Fairytale

An outbreak of strange curses. A kingdom in chaos. With the kingdom of Lunette's people in peril, their prince has one choice. Aided by his best friend and protector, knight Dame Ignacia, Prince Cricket—young, cheerful, and oft-times ridiculous—set out in search of answers. Swords and opinions clash as Cricket and Ignacia work together to solve the mysteries that surround them. But they must set aside their differences to find the culprit before the perpetrator can launch their next attack on Lunette and plunge the kingdom into darkness. A frolicking LGBTQ+ fantasy novel steeped in action, wit, and all of the corniness. Perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, Neil Gaiman's Stardust, and William Goldman's The Princess Bride.

Grab your copy HERE

#indie author #indie books #indie writer #lgbt writers #lgbt author #lgbt books #lgbtqia books #lgbt reads #queer booklr #queer writers #mlm fiction #mlm books #mm fantasy #lgbt fantasy #queer fantasy #original fairy tale

[fantasy-hoe-25]

Oh dear lord a 6'5" horned boy with blackened hands...... Why am I so weak

#sou eater #lily mayne #reading #mm fantasy

[caranox]

This Dark Embrace: A Cruel Fate Story

Devyn Kinsley is a witch—a male witch—with little power in his matriarchal coven. In one of the last neutral-territory cities, filled with creatures that can offer him more, he's managed to keep his head down in favor of living right by his family. The problem is that ever-present pressure to marry a girl from his coven to ensure he doesn't fall prey to the temptation of binding himself to something far more vicious.

So when Devyn has a chance encounter with a mysterious, heroic stranger called Lonán, who Devyn assumes is a wizard, he falls head-over-heels, thinking that he's found a way out of a loveless marriage. But Lonán may not be exactly who he seems...

Interested in the first chapter of this (achillean) m/m urban romantasy? Read below! You can find the rest on my Patreon (chapters 1-3 free; chapter 4 onward available for supporters)!

01 — Devyn

“Once again, selling crystals and talismans in the break room during operating hours is against company policy,” the supervisor rattled off from the notes on his phone, taking the time to push up his glasses before continuing. ��Push your side hustles when you clock out.”

Devyn Kinsley shifted and rubbed his arms as some of the other couriers nudged each other with snide remarks about getting caught. The supervisor continued to scroll through his phone with a sigh and rattled off a few other instructions about changing routes and delivery updates, but Devyn couldn’t help but bounce on the balls of his feet. That overwhelming urge to move nipped at his heels.

“You good, Dev?” the guy next to him whispered. A brown, muscular bicep elbowed him before he felt those deep, coffee-colored irises fix on him. Conall.

“Y-yeah. Sorry.” His shoes stuck to the vinyl tiles again.

Conall shook his head. “No wonder you get so many deliveries done whenever you clock in. I don’t know where the hell you get all that energy. Does being cooped up as a boy witch do that to you?”

Devyn stiffened. His question was laced more with curiosity than he expected. Devyn’s own dark eyes slid over to the druidic emblem hung around a cord on the guy’s neck.

“I’m… not sure. Maybe,” Devyn admitted, squeezing his arms a little tighter. “I’d just rather be out working than sitting around the house all day. Don’t really want to be a burden.”

The guy snorted. “Never really understood why covens treat men like criminals. They act like banishing them to a house will keep them out of trouble somehow.”

Devyn’s chin dipped down into his sweatshirt collar, hating how his ears heated. Goddess, why was he feeling so guilty now? Sure, he’d felt a little uneasy when he’d first taken this job a few months ago, but his moms hadn’t really dissuaded him from doing it. Granted, they hadn’t been completely thrilled with the idea either, especially once they heard the courier service he’d be working for delivered to anyone and not just magically-inclined humans.

He glanced around at the other people in the breakroom: a small army of druids holding cups of stale coffee or water bottles, rolling their eyes as their boss droned on about new company policies. And then there was Devyn­—a single witch in their midst. A black sheep trying to fit in, even though they could all see right through him with his lack of tattoos of Celtic knots or flowering trees, his unpierced ears and nose, his bulkier sweatshirts and jackets instead of form-fitting leather.

Devyn’s eyes wandered over the others in the room until the supervisor cleared his throat and boomed out a druidic word he always did at the end of his meetings. “All right. You’re all dismissed. Remember to file the proper paperwork for any damages or returns. We can’t afford to get lax on that again.”

Some of the couriers half-shoved each other into the walls as they filed into the corridor, cackling about something to do with selling incense from their locker last week, but Devyn could only think of wanting to grab his delivery bag and hurry out into the street. He wove between a few of them to the shelf with ‘KINSLEY, DEVYN’ stickered above it.

“Dev—”

Devyn spun around to Conall again as he hoisted up his own bag.

“You’ve been kind of quiet recently. You sure you’re okay?”

He started to nod before blurting out, “Yeah. I’m good. Really.”

Conall’s frown persisted as they started outside together, stepping into the side street behind the building with dumpsters and bicycles crammed up against the brick walls. Silence pooled between them as they dragged themselves to the main road, the sound of cars momentarily interrupted by obnoxious laughter spilling out the exit behind them as the rest funneled out to start their routes.

Conall his throat. “Um, so… I was thinking…”

Devyn hummed for him to continue as he plotted the addresses on his list for his map.

“You want to get a drink tonight?”

He inwardly cringed at the thought of being surrounded by numerous coworkers, along with trying to talk his moms into letting him stay out a little later instead of running home to help with dinner. “I… don’t know. I’m not exactly fond of dealing with a bunch of drunk druids,” he said with a laugh, hoping to soften the blow.

Conall his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and blew out a nervous chuckle as he reached for the back of his neck. “I was actually thinking it’d just be the two of us.”

Oh. Devyn’s heart lept into his throat. “I- I can’t,” he choked out. “N-not that you’re not—I mean—” He flinched as Conall’s brows knit together, and Devyn tried to stammer out a reason that didn’t make him sound like a total dick. After all, this guy was pretty. And nice. And okay, maybe he wasn’t quite Devyn’s type, but it’s not like he’d really had the chance to meet many other guys outside of his coven with the routine of going to school or work and then straight home. “I’m pretty sure my moms would kill me if they heard I was seeing a druid.”

“Well, um—Have you considered converting?”

Devyn clutched his phone a little tighter, blurring the screen around his fingers with the sweat on his hands. “I know that coven life may seem really weird to you, but I” —he shook his head— “I can’t abandon my family. I’m also not trying to discount how kind you’ve been to me by showing me around and hanging out with me, but I’m kind of just coming to terms that I’m probably better off not seeing anyone since my only options are other girl witches and a bunch of wizards.”

“You act like someone’s not going to come along and try to sweep you away,” he said with a humorless chuckle. “Dev, I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”

“My family isn’t super high-ranking in the coven, which means I don’t have much power in my blood. I’m sort of worthless,” Devyn mumbled. “That’s why I took this job—”

He grabbed Devyn’s shoulder right before they hit the corner, the stoplights changing before one of them would be given the signal to escape this horrible conversation. “You’re not worthless,” Conall whispered, his eyes filled with remorse. “The fact that your coven has even pushed that idea onto you is just… wrong.”

A chirp of the crosswalk and Devyn shrugged his hand away. “Rules are rules. It’s what I have to sacrifice to stay with my family. I don’t like it either, but I don’t want to lose what I have.” He hesitated, wishing he could find something better to say—something to remove that weight settling in his gut now. “I’m sorry.”

Devyn stepped away and turned to jog across the street, feeling Conall’s eyes on him until he turned another corner. His pace slowed in the sea of people and creatures wearing the faces of things that appeared human. Everyone and everything around him put on a façade to ward off the things they feared or to undermine the fears of others. Learning to keep his head down and ignore them all turned out to be a better tactic than trying to puzzle each one of them out. The less he tried to decipher a stranger, the easier he slept.

He only wished he could undo his own soul-searching to lift that burden of being the perfect son his moms dreamed of, but he couldn’t imagine his heart ever belonging to a woman.

***

The sun beat down on the buildings around him by the time Devyn pushed into the pub with a box in hand. Dozens of eyes from darkened booths and tables tucked into corners flicked up to take him in before returning to their meals or laptops. He swallowed at the lingering glow of some of them, a tell-tale sign that the things lurking in here wanted others to know of their inhumanity.

He shuffled up to the counter, willing his arms not to shake as he nodded toward the bartender. “I have a package for a” —he tilted the label up as his mind blanked on the name printed there, despite reading it about ten times on the way in— “Heber Marina to sign for.”

The bartender jabbed his thumb toward a door. “I’ll go get him. Give me five.”

His shoes peeled off the tiles with every step on his way to the back of the pub, the sticky squelching making Devyn absently drum his fingers on the package while he waited. Devyn’s pulse picked up when a man a few seats down the bar slid him a look—something he felt more than saw out of the corner of his vision, especially since it was starting to tunnel in on the mirror along the back wall of bottles.

The sharp clack of heels on wood flooring approaching him sent every muscle taught like a bowstring. “Well, well,” came a husky purr.

He jerked in a half-turn, just in time to catch the woman’s hand cresting the bar top. Deep, glimmering plum nail polish on what he hoped were press-ons looked like shards torn from the sky. Devyn’s eyes followed the black, lacy blouse to the woman’s face, and his stomach twisted when he saw the gold irises peering back at him, cut through with a thin, elongated pupil—like a cat’s.

His back dug into the corner of the bar as a wicked smile spread across her face. “I never expected to find a witch here, of all places,” she mused, reaching for tousled waves of his hair.

That need to slap her away or recoil was instantly overridden by a freeze. His entire body locked up, head spinning as air cut off from his lungs, unable to breathe like his brain had malfunctioned, and decided if he became a statue that she’d leave him alone. Devyn clenched his teeth as her nails tingled against his scalp, and she suddenly seized his jaw, forcing him to meet her eyes again.

“Adorable and well-behaved…” A dark chuckle slipped past her glossy lips, and his heart plummeted at the glimpse of fangs. “How would you like to follow me home, little witch?”

The end of his promised five minutes couldn’t come fast enough. He tried to shake his head and winced as her grip tightened, threatening to crush bone. No one else in this establishment spared them another look. Not a single witch or druid in sight slid out of their seat to come to his aid.

Devyn squirmed, finally grabbing the woman’s wrist to try to pry her off of him until she took another step forward. Her body pressed against his, pinning him between the bolted-down stools.

“I think you should reconsider your actions,” she said in a low growl. “I’d hate to have to break you before—”

The man a little further down the bar slid off his stool, and her head snapped up, eyes narrowing on him as he reached for something Devyn couldn’t see.

“Leave the witch alone,” he said smoothly.

She bared her teeth with a guttural hiss that made Devyn’s hair stand on end. He tried to move his head to take in his hopeful savior, but her grip tightened on his jaw like a vice.

“Why don’t you fuck off, pretty boy?”

The man took another step, finally bleeding into Devyn’s vision. At least the demonic woman pinning him against the bar was right about something: he was pretty—beautiful, really. Steely eyes, near-black hair brushed into place, pinstriped suit, monogrammed tie clip with ‘L. R.’, and a cane at his side, a hand choking it right under the handle. He couldn’t be older than thirty, and with the way his thumb pressed up on the silver-dipped grip of the cane, Devyn quickly understood he wasn’t as alone as he thought.

“I don’t think you want to deal with Mr. Marina’s wrath because you decided to ruin his deliveries by snatching a courier and destroying his relationship with that agency. So, I’ll give you one more chance to let the witch go before I cause enough of a racket that he hurries to see what the fuss is about.”

She bared her teeth, fangs, and all before the pressure released from Devyn’s jaw. The woman stalked off, pushing through the front door with a jingle of a bell as he gasped out a shaky breath.

A hand clamped onto his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

Devyn nodded, rubbing his jaw. “Y-yeah. Thanks. Didn’t mean to cause any problems.”

The man—wizard—pulled away and leaned his cane back up against one of the barstools. “I wouldn’t consider that to be your fault,” he said with a frown. “You were just doing your job.”

“But I didn’t exactly try to fight back either,” Devyn mumbled, feeling heat flood his cheeks with embarrassment. Another wizard he’d humiliated himself in front of, and an attractive one at that too. Great.

“Well,” the wizard said, glancing around the pub, like he was making sure everyone had gone back to their own business again, “if you feel like you owe me, I wouldn’t say no to a date.”

Devyn’s head whipped around so fast, the room almost tilted. He half-stumbled toward the wizard, righting himself as he grabbed onto the bar for support.

The guy rocked back slightly, biting his lip like Devyn might say no. Devyn, who’d only dreamed of a handsome wizard prying him away from the fate of being paired off with some random, woman witch within his coven he’d undoubtedly feel nothing for. His mouth felt like it was filled with cotton as he stammered out a “Y-yeah. O-of course.”

The wizard broke into a grin and offered him his hand. “I’m Lonán Reverie.”

“Devyn,” he blurted, thrusting out his own hand into Lonán’s while sparks prickled along his skin. “Devyn Kinsley.”

---

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[brynwrites]

Meet the main characters of Odder Still:

Rubem the incredibly gay (but lonely) loner and Tavish the blind bisexual selkie 'princeling’...

~

“Rubem...” Two titles pull at me, the Veneno surname I’d chosen for the rivers and the Murk-given full name my mother helped me craft. But both places had spit me out. When I return, it’ll be to the little strip of nothingness that sits between them. “Rubem of the no-man’s land.”

~

“Findlay Incorporated,” Tavish says, pronouncing the title with something so firmly between pride and sarcasm that I can’t tell where one begins and the other ends, “is the largest and most shining corporation within Maraheem, run by my mother, Raghnaid Findlay.”

~

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(Top art by AlinaTnss on twitter; Bottom art by @atlastheseus on twitter... you can now buy prints and stickers of them at my ko-fi shop! ;)

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