Rory Ni Coileain

New year, new series — here’s a bit (unedited, of course!) from tonight’s work on Chapter 3 of Blowing Smoke. The Broken Pattern books pick up at the end of Firestorm (SoulShares #4), and I suppose the series title is a tiny bit of  a spoiler…

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Twinklebritches? And aren’t you up early?”
“Who says I’ve been to bed?” Conall was out of breath, and a little hoarse.
“Well, I suppose it could have been the kitchen table, or the sofa, or the middle of the dining room floor, but my money’s on the bed.”
Rian appeared in the bedroom doorway, grinning broadly and then pantomiming the insertion of a ball gag. Cuinn waved him off.
“Shows what you know, we were up on the roof.” The mage sounded not the least bit apologetic–he had three hundred years of involuntary celibacy to make up for, and he didn’t really care who knew it. “But we came down because I noticed something I thought you and the Prince might like to know, and I needed my phone. Didn’t want to give you an inferiority complex by Fading in unannounced.”
Rian’s smirk was almost too much for Cuinn to bear. You’re begging for a paddling. The thought was accompanied by narrowed eyes and pursed lips, though a true pout was more than he could manage at the moment.
Shite, I thought I was going to have to engrave you an invitation.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Cuinn’s comment to Conall was almost an afterthought.
He could almost hear the mage’s spring-green eyes rolling. “Look, I can always go back to what we were doing. Josh and I are learning yoga, and there are uses for a Sun Salutation undreamt of in your philosophy.” Low laughter sounded in the background; it always struck Cuinn as strange that the easy-going Josh took such delight in Conall’s randy nature. “But I just picked up on a disturbance in the Pattern, and you did say you wanted to know if that happened.”