Midnight Rising chapter delayed until Sunday morning; first Feathered Hearts teaser available · 4:07pm Oct 5th, 2023
The delay is to give at least one more prereader time to catch up and fully review it. It’s more or less ready except for a second editing pass and tweaks, including one final addition for another prereader who requested it.
In the meantime, work on the next Feathered Hearts: Continuation and Chronicles chapter is well underway. I’ve written another 3000 words since I started back into it two days ago, bringing the current chapter length up to 10.4k words. And with a long weekend coming up, I should be able to put plenty of work in on it, especially once Midnight Rising is released. I want to have it out before I leave on vacation to Iceland, which is October 18th.
It’s nowhere near ready to be shared with prereaders yet, but I’ll offer up the barest hint of what’s ahead with a brief but sanitized teaser of the new chapter’s opening. It’s still bit rough in places, but you should get the idea readily enough:
Gilda had thought that the Ancestors were firmly on her side when events conspired to prevent her indiscretions with Karin Kazal from being revealed to the Tribune and her friends. Silently thanking them as she settled in with Giraldi to witness the Tribune’s sensual subjugation by the Changeling Queen as punishment for his many affronts to her hospitality, she couldn’t wait to tell Marco and Tara, hoping to swiftly get word to them along with Private First Class Guerrero and Lance Corporal Brennan—the only two Marines who knew—that their secret was safe and not to spread it any further.
But everything changed in an instant when Queen Lepidoptes abruptly deflated, sighing as her manner turned something close to solemn.
“I’m afraid that I have some troubling news, Centurion. I have just communicated telepathically with the Starshina. Unfortunately, he assumed that revealing your secret to the Tribune was a foregone conclusion, and once he knew, all would know,” she began ominously, causing Gilda to look up sharply, a sinking feeling entering her gut.
“So therefore, not wishing it to be sprung on them or told to them in some tainted manner by the Tribune, I regret to report that he revealed what happened between you both.”
Gilda couldn’t move or speak for a moment. Even with the cider still in her system, she felt herself going faint; her legs starting to shake as she sat back heavily. She went from thanking the Ancestors to asking if they were toying with her in a single second, certain her career—and her friendships with Giraldi and Fortrakt—was about to end.
For this part, Giraldi only looked up curiously after he’d finished pouring the rum into bowls, noticing their change of mood immediately. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. What is this about?”
She didn’t respond right away, her eyes still closed as some part Gilda distantly guessed that she was continuing her mental conversation with Karin Kazal. “I could tell you, Optio. But I think it is best that the Centurion and Starshina do. I am truly sorry for this, Grizelda Behertz. In hindsight, it would have been best if the Starshina stayed. But what is done is done, and what I told you before holds true: I truly believe that once the circumstances of it are shown, your honor will be affirmed by all.”
Gilda’s only response was to fall forward enough to lean on the desk, burying her face in her talons. She was amazed at how, yet again, the very air seemed to have been yanked out from under her wings, causing both her prospects and spirits to plummet. “Ancestors preserve us…” was all she could immediately mutter, fearful of what would happen to the Karin Kazal as much as herself.
She felt herself beginning to fall into despair, but then felt a magical tendril on the bottom of her beak, forcing her face to rise. “Stand tall, Centurion,” the Queen told her. “Show no fear or regret, for such will reflect badly on both of you. You will understand that we must address this matter immediately, before word spreads. And it will spread,” she said with surety, causing Gilda’s guts to clench. “Better now, when it can be properly explained, than later, when rumor and gossip will hold sway.”
“By your command. I am not ashamed…” Gilda told herself in a shaky voice as much as the Queen, trying desperately to steel herself as she sensed her worse fears about to be realized. “I am not.”
“I know. I have seen your mind and emotions, young eagless. But you fear the reaction of your commander and comrades, which can appear to be the same thing,” Queen Lepidoptes warned before glancing up at a still-muted Tribune Cipio, who remained suspended in the air.
“Whatever you witness in these next few minutes, know that it does not absolve you of your affronts, Cauda Cipio,” she warned him, then lowered him back to ground, opening the doors behind Gilda with a single flare of her horn. “From here on out, you will compose and comport yourself properly in my presence, treating both me and your subordinates with due respect. If not, your penance will be extended. And may not be so readily enjoyed…”
Like I said, that’s just the beginning of the chapter, and it is very likely going to be fleshed out further before all is said and done. It will be very M-rated, but also have plenty of T-rated material for a non-clop version as Queen Lepidoptes gently guides the reveal, and explains much of Changeling society and outlook in the process. This is going to be as heavy on worldbulding as adult action, folks. And I hope it will do the Changeling lore I borrowed from the sorely missed Fimfiction and Gentlemanverse author Denim_Blue proud.
More updates and possible teasers will follow in the next week, work permitting. With regards to the latter, I have one final software release that has to be ready before I leave on vacation. And while I’m on my vacation, I plan to do at least some work on Nightmare Night, though getting a new chapter done in time for Halloween may be a tall order. But I’ll see what I can do.
Good luck with your current project