I wasn't going to post any more of RITES OF PASSAGE but since I've had special requests, I've skipped forward a bit from Part I and Part II and Part III. This month's snippet is from the scene in which our "hero" finds out that he's about to be the fall guy...

Taleo was an expert when it came to beauty, and the Ista Aldrik women were all beautiful. Every, single, untouchable one of them. Petrina's lush lips. Gellina's auburn tresses. Junia's ice-blue eyes. Aldrissa's enticing curves. Even little Fidelia's impish ears had their charm. Yes, the queen's nieces were as lovely and unique as snowflakes, but they all had one Ista Aldrik trait in common—an unflinching ability to poison your tea and smile at you across the table as you drank it.

"I'm not thirsty," Taleo said. "But thank you for the invitation. I've been riding for days and I'm no fit company for noblewomen."

I've skipped forward a bit from Part I and Part II. This month's snippet is from RITES OF PASSAGE and is the first time our "hero" (and I use that term extremely lightly) meets our heroine.

CHAPTER THREE

"Have you ever seen a lovelier ass?" Taleo asked.

The maiden pretended not to hear him, swirling her red palla over one shoulder, so Taleo urged his horse to follow. It was a bright winter's day and the spring thaw couldn’t be far away, so Taleo was in the mood for a bit of sport.

His brother rode beside him, his horse’s bridle adorned with jingling bells. "Actually,” Kester said, his breath puffing steam in the cool air. “I have seen a lovelier ass and so have you. Yasmina's backside is legend. Her frontside, too, truth be told."

"Don't tell me you're still mooning over her,” Taleo said, navigating the crowded streets of Anarinuell with the kind of authority only a mounted nobleman could bring to bear. “You're like a lovesick cow. It's shameful."

"You're one to talk.” Kester laughed. “Why not give Yasmina up? You know she loves me, so why not let me have her to myself."

"Because Yasmina is a prostitute; you'll never have her to yourself." Besides, Taleo didn't give up anything or anyone that belonged to him, even fleetingly, and his brother should know that by now. “If you're so sure of Yasmina's love, just ask her to refuse me."

Kester shot him a sullen look. "For reasons that completely escape me, women don't refuse you."

"Probably because I give them no opportunity." After all, he was a Firan nobleman. If he chose to press the matter, a common woman couldn't refuse him by law nor could she invite his attention without inviting censure. The injustice of it was one of the many reasons he preferred whores, who were freer to do as they liked.