Weekend Writing Warrior: 8/9

This 8-10 sentence blog hop is hosted by The Weekend Writing Warriors. (Click the link for the list of participants, or rules if you want to join!)

This is from an unnamed, just-started WIP, with the placeholder name of “Bluebeard,” because it’s very loosely based on that fairy tale. Every year on the Winter Solstice, a sorcerer takes a sixteen-year-old girl as his bride, divorcing her and exiling her before he takes a new bride the next year.

Summary: The sorcerer has just chosen the narrator as his bride, married her without much interest, spelled them into the tower, and dismissed her to make dinner, where she will join him–she has just thumped down the tray of food.

 

He lifted the dome nearest him, and stared at my simple offering.

“If you wanted fancy cookery, you should have chosen another girl.” I lifted my dome, filled a cup, and took my food to another seat, close enough to speak to him, but not too close.

“If I could choose, I wouldn’t have chosen an ungrateful clod of a girl,” he took a bite of the bread, and a careful taste of the stew. “Acceptable,” he said, eyes holding wry surprise, and ate in silence.

Following his example, I turned my attention to my meal as well. My meal done, I tidied away my plates, and waited for him to finish before fetching his. Lifting up the tray, I nodded curtly at him, and swept down the stairs.

“Come to my study on the third floor when you’re done cleaning up,” he called after me.

*    *    *

This story is very loosely based on Bluebeard. The sorcerer is cursed, and the brides are caught up in the curse, though the nearby villagers don’t know how or why. He keeps the kingdom safe with his magic, and his brides tie him to a land he couldn’t otherwise protect. There are other ways to do this tying–but his curse demands a bride.