Here's a snippet from my upcoming novel The Winter Court. Copyright Victoria Astor 2019. All rights reserved. This work may not be reposted without permission.
The party was in full swing by the time Tamsin and her parents reached the Wilcox residence. They were greeted at the door by Brandon, who was taking coats up to the spare bedroom, and looking less like the free-spirit he was with his fair hair slicked back behind his ears. While they had never been close due to the four-year age gap, Tamsin thought that he greeted her coldly and it stung. She had hoped that everyone would be over this already, but then again, she wasn’t either.
She headed off into the kitchen, intent on finding someone who didn’t hate her or at least a drink. Finn’s dad, Paddy, was serving drinks. He smiled when he handed her a flute of champagne, but he didn’t break off from his conversation with Mayor Harwood about the proposed increase in Albion’s property taxes.
She ducked into the den, which seemed to be deserted, and tried to look busy as she stared at the case full of DVDs. “He’s hiding in the library, in case you were wondering,” said a familiar voice. Tamsin turned to her right to see Arianna, her last remaining friend in Albion, grinning at her mischievously. “Finn’s waiting for your brother to make an appearance, at which point they will both be hiding in the library.”
“Oh my god, you look amazing! I’ve missed you!” Tamsin cried as she hugged her friend. “I’m just so happy to have someone on my side tonight.”
Arianna looked down at her strapless gold minidress balefully. Her long dark hair fell in loose waves to the middle of her back. She’d gotten some balayage as a nod to her new station in the Summer Court, though the citizens of Albion weren’t to know about that. “You like it? It’s actually a glamour. This is my prom dress.”
Tamsin was shocked that she was speaking so openly. “Ari, your dad-” she began in a low voice.
“Oh, please. He still doesn’t know because Mom never lets him keep any of his memories about this. It’s been 18 years, Tam, I think we’ve passed the point of him ever finding anything out by accident.” Arianna rolled her eyes and took a sip of the vodka-cranberry in her left hand. “So where is your brother, anyway? I’d hate to be stuck kissing you at midnight.”
Tamsin made a face. “Can we please not talk about kissing? I really can’t take it right now. There’s too much going on.” When Arianna smirked and opened her mouth to do more teasing, Tamsin cut her off. “Don’t you have a boyfriend? Wasn’t he supposed to be coming to this tonight?”
“Yes, but he had some family thing tonight. Caz is going to come here in a couple days.” Tamsin scanned the room behind her friend. Noticing this, Arianna raised her eyebrows and whistled. “I guess that whole staying-away-from-you-know-who thing didn’t go as planned…”
“You know why I had to do it, Ari, I can’t believe I’m going to catch shit from you about it too!”
“Well, if you had just made up your mind when you were given the opportunity, then you wouldn’t have had to do it!” Arianna chided. “All you’ve done with your stupid pledge is make them both mad at you, and that’s not a safe place to be.”
Tamsin sighed. They’d had this argument many times over the past year, and it never led anywhere productive. “I think that Titania might be less mad at me because she’s invited me to see her tomorrow. I don’t want to, but I can’t not go because that would make everything worse.” She downed her champagne in one go. “There’s nothing I can do about it now. I need another drink. Do you want?”
Arianna shook her head and gave a perfect French shrug. Insouciant. Unbothered. “I couldn’t tell you. You know what Titania’s like. I’ll meet you back here later. I just saw Jess, and I need to find out the latest about her and her ex. And, tell her all about Caz.”
Tamsin stepped out into the kitchen to find that Finn’s dad had gotten bored of serving drinks. While she searched the crowded kitchen counters for an open bottle of champagne, someone grabbed her elbow roughly.
“Tamsin. Where is Pete?”
She startled at the sound of Finn’s voice. Tamsin had never heard him use this tone. It was rough and tense; almost as if he had been keeping himself awake by smoking three packs of cigarettes a night for the past six years. Looking into his face, she saw deep purple bruises under his eyes and worry that creased his forehead. “H-he’s not here…” she stammered. “He’s-he’s got a fever. I d-don’t think he’s going to-to come.”
Finn dropped her elbow and visibly relaxed. “Okay, good. He can’t be here tonight.” He said, turning to leave.
Tamsin stopped him. “Finn, what’s wrong? Why can’t Pierre come over tonight?” she asked, her voice rising two octaves above normal.
“He just…can’t, alright? He can’t,” Finn said forcefully, waving her away. He stalked off, grabbing a bottle of something dark on his way.
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