Whoo! That last one… Need a bit of a breather, there. I’m going back to my wips this time around, but not to In Pain and Blood. At least, not straight away.
No, my fellow Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday Folk, I thought a little bit of showing what a certain two princes from its sister novel, To Target the Heart, are like.
Blurb: Having staved off the idea of marriage for years, Prince Hamish finds himself forced to face its realities when his mother holds a contest of arms with him as the prize. But one contestant is not as they appear and promises a way out. Can they win against all the odds?
This one’s still in its infancy, so I don’t have much. In this piece, Hamish has just found out that Darshan, ambassador of Udynea Empire and his one chance of not being stuck in a loveless marriage, is also the heir to the imperial throne.
“Heirs require children.” Such a need was even greater than a prince who was currently seventh in line. “Let’s be realistic here, I can’t give you a child. You need a wife for that.”
Disgust soured the normally sure line of his mouth. “You sound rather like my father,” he muttered as he stood. Pushing the wire frames further up his nose, he peered down at Hamish as if his entire ancestry had been offended. “Well, I don’t want a wife. I want you.”
Aldrea Alien 
Well, that’s certainly telling it like it is! Nice snippet.
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Oh, yes. Dar’s rather gone past the whole friends-with-benefits point to “let’s get married”… I’m not sure he’s heard of the boyfriend phase that generally happens between.
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Ooo I love this! What a sweet place to leave off on. Great writing!
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Thanks. I really wanted to show the piece after as well but… then it would be a lot more than 10 sentences.
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Nothing like ignoring an entire logical argument with a singlr phrase.
Love the dialogue, Aldrea
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Dar doesn’t do logical. That’s how he wound up as ambassador.
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Awww… Sweet scene. And he definitely knows what he wants… and doesn’t give two figs about his father or an heir. (It will be interesting to see how *that* plays out.)
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Not quite as Dar expects that’s for sure. ☺
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At least he knows what he wants! Demand it! Love it!
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Dar’s known for a while, but Hamish is too wary of being hurt to hope for much. He’s sort of ignored quite a few signals before now.
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Unfortunately, royalty generally value heirs over love. I hope it works out for them!
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Dar certainly has a Plan in mind.
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Aw, this is lovely. I hope he gets what he wants!
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He’s certainly going to try his best.
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I feel bad for them, trapped in a uncompromising situation. Nice snippet!
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I certainly circled the idea before committing to it.
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Maybe Darshan can adopt Hamish and get an heir that way. Just a thought. 😉
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Well, the Udynea Empire sure does love a good royal scandal.
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Oh, I like it already! Great snippet, Aldrea. 🙂
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🙂 Thanks.
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Love the story premise. Nice description with the dialogue. 🙂
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Writing Dar always puts me in rhe mindset of the world needs more gay princes. Doesn’t matter how many there already are, it needs more. And princesses, but that’s in another novel.
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I couldn’t agree more! 🙂
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I like Darshan. I am curious what he’ll do if his family objects, because I have a feeling his response will be equally forceful 🙂
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Well, being the only viable heir does give him certain freedoms and daddy’s sort of resigned in knowing his son’s not likely to produce a legitimate heir, so as long as he doesn’t do something scandalous like upset another country by competing in a contest of arms to decide on who marries the prince… 😳
Daddy won’t be pleased.
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Aw, such a sappy and lovely line – so she’ll be his mistress?
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Darshan’s not one for half measures.
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Tough situation going on here, which of course makes for a really good story!
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And the alternative is something that they can’t bear thinking about. Thanks. ☺
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Talk about being blunt! But I like that he knows what he wants and doesn’t give two cents what his father thinks. Shouldn’t he be slightly thinking about the country he is Heir to though?
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He has a plan. He’s just not quite ready to divulge it to Hamish. There’s a few details to smooth out first.
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Hmmm…a concubine would fix things. 🙂 Interesting dilemma.
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A concubine would work, providing they can find a woman with a decent magical line who isn’t a slave and also has no ties she’s willing to exploit. That’s not even going into the whole issue of Dar not being the least bit interested in sleeping with a woman, even to create an heir. And, given Tirglasian marriage laws, having their first child be blatantly not of Hamish’s bloodline makes any marriage void…
But Dar has a plan. It’s unconventional and magical and only been tested a few times, but that’s another bridge to cross
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I hadn’t thought of the legalities of bloodlines and of heirs. 🙂 I’m sure that Dar is quite creative in his plan. 🙂
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