Someone asked me what my favorite part of Sedition was the other day and I sort of stood there, struggling for an answer. I finally said that Trenna was my favorite part of the book, but she shook her head and asked for a specific scene and then proceeded to tell me hers.
Which, let’s be honest, flattered me beyond all hope because Sedition has been out for several years now and she’s still gushing to me about it. (And berating me for not having Usurper in her hot little hands yet. I promise, it’ll be out next year.) It was a nice little ego-stroke and I’m trying hard not to let it get to my head.
At the risk of spoiling the beginning of the novel I’m going to go ahead and say what my favorite scene of Sedition is. Well, it’s not much of a spoiler because it is so early in the book and it doesn’t give much away. My favorite scene is when Trenna gets knighted and tells Nelek he’s going to regret it.
But I have loads of favorite scenes in all of my books. It’s why I keep writing, these scenes just keep cropping up. (I think that’s normal, actually. If I didn’t have a ton of favorite scenes then I wouldn’t be able to write the books.)
Since Deviation and Dead Magic will be coming out this month I’ve decided to post snippets of my favorite scenes from both. We’ll start with Deviation today. I’m not going to give any setup for the scene because that might spoil the book, and I’m not going to explain why I love this scene so much because honestly … I’m not sure myself.
Deviation:
Reesa swallowed hard and forced herself to look him in the face.
He had read the book.
His blunt jaw was held tight, his lips pressed so hard that the edges went white with strain, and there was the tell-tale tick at the corner of his left eye. God help her, she knew him well enough to know that her life was in danger. Flawed characters made the best characters, so she’d made Hedric a mess of reckless behavior. He was an unstable, quixotic, volatile, walking bringer of death. Mesa had been his saving grace, a counterbalance, and now she was gone.
For long minutes he just stood there, probably hoping she would fall over dead with the way he was looking at her. Misery and torment contorted the long, jackal-like features she’d made him famous for. She needed to do something, explain herself, apologize, anything to ease him before he struck her.
When he finally spoke, hoarse and low, she felt fear like a rod of lightening in her spine. “You did this,” he said.
Because she didn’t know what to say, Reesa lifted her chin and fought for a brave glare.
“How could you?” he asked. When she still didn’t respond he closed the gap between them, slamming a fist into the wall behind her with enough force to make it dent. “How could you?” he shouted again.
“It was a book! Fiction!”
Hedric gripped her tank-top and lifted until she lost footing, levering her body against the wall and bringing his face inches from her own. “Does this feel like fiction to you?”
***
And … I’ll stop you right there, because I’m cheeky like that. When the book comes out you’ll get to see where in the story that scene is.
AJMaguire 