This week’s six-paragraph Friday Freebit is again from Courting the Devil, the second book in “The Serpent’s Tooth” trilogy.
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In …”Courting the Devil”, the author picks up where the first book leaves off. As in the first book, the characters are developed well and the action is non stop. —My Cozie Corner Reviews
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Fatigue overtook him. The long day had left him worn and aching. Yet he could not sleep. The feather bed was soft, the linen clean and freshly pressed. But he could not keep his mind from dwelling on that woman. Annie…. When he closed his eyes, his mind conjured images of her as she stirred a thick, bubbling kettle of grease and lye on the open fire in the yard, until her lithe arms rippled, and sweat poured over her face, shining on her skin in the last light of the setting sun. In the close and sultry night, if he fell for a moment from consciousness he saw those exquisite violet eyes—so filled with resignation—and heard her soft voice, carefully controlled against even the slightest hint of inner turmoil, her manner restrained.
He recognized it all for a telltale sign of guilt, for he too lived under its dark cloud, though his eyes and voice would never betray him as hers did. Yet it festered inside him.
Because of his dedication to the cause, his father was dead.
“Proceed with vigilance.” The cryptic reminder of the note had been all but forgotten. “Uncle is aware of our devotion.” Damn, why has it come to this?
Leaning his elbows on the sill of the open window of his small upstairs room, his chin resting on his hands, Harris gazed over the treetops, at the sky overstretched with a gauzy net of clouds. Jagged lines of light flashed ceaselessly in the distance. Below the window, an eerie incandescence flickered across the enclosure where the pan of lye soap cooled in the night air. There was no sign of rain, no rumble of thunder. Only the occasional croaking of a lone bullfrog near the pond on the other side of the house broke the stillness of the night. Not so much as a breeze stirred.
By his pocket watch, the hour had gone past ten. By the hush that had stolen over the house, all were asleep.
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Friday FreeBits is a regular feature on Ginger Simpson’s blog. To read more excerpts from some great authors, click here: http://mizging.blogspot.com
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