Welcome to Excerpt Monday! If you want to join in the fun, you can stop by the Excerpt Monday blog for more information.
This month’s excerpt is a scene from my current work-in-progress, Iconoclast:
–
It had been a very long time since Samyazaz was a child. He remembered it as a quiet time, a time of study and learning, marked by the wonder of discovery and the somber honor of his duty. He had never even been so careless as to rip a garment, to his recollection.
The first time Sariel and Baraquiel had brought their young daughter to him, her palms scraped raw and dirty scuffs upon the hem of her skirt, he had been speechless with appalled surprise.
Now, years later, as he ushered her into his workroom yet again, he thought ruefully that he had ceased to be surprised by her. Weary resignation had taken its place.
“I was in a hurry,” she said by way of explanation, and remained standing even though he motioned for her to sit upon his table. “Father said we were having the Council over for supper and I must be well-presented, but I lost myself in the library and before I knew it—”
“You were running,” Samyazaz said grimly, stretching out her arm. The shoulder of her sleeve was in tatters, its edges stained with flecks of blood. Through the rent camisole he could see that her arm was abraded and inflamed. A few long cuts had gone deep enough to break the skin.
“My feet flew right out from under me.” She sent him a sheepish grin, which he countered with stern disapproval. It was not lost on him that she had not rebutted his statement, but had not conceded to it either.
“It is unbefitting a Watcher to run through the halls of her own home,” he scolded her, not for the first time and surely not for the last, as he drew a dagger from his drawer. He turned in time to catch her making a face.
