Ruinsong by Julia Ember
Genres: Fantasy, LGBTQ+, Romance, Young Adult
In
Julia Ember’s dark and lush LGBTQ+ romantic fantasy Ruinsong, two young
women from rival factions must work together to reunite their country,
as they wrestle with their feelings for each other.
Her voice was her prison…
Now it’s her weapon.
In
a world where magic is sung, a powerful mage named Cadence must choose
between the two. For years, she has been forced to torture her country’s
disgraced nobility at her ruthless queen’s bidding.
But
when she is reunited with her childhood friend, a noblewoman with ties
to the underground rebellion, she must finally make a choice: Take a
stand to free their country from oppression, or follow in the queen’s
footsteps and become a monster herself.
Cadence
Her grin widens; then she arches her back and twists from side to side. “My mattress is as hard as rock.” She works her fingers into her neck, massaging. “I don’t think anyone has replaced the beds in the east wing since the reign of Marianne V. If I dared to look under the bed, I’d probably find all manner of dead things.”
It’s the kind of joke she would have made when we were children. But now, I stare at the nape of her neck, at the soft sweep of a loose curl brushing her skin. My fingers twitch in my lap.
“I could fix it for you,” I say. My face reddens as the words escape.
She glances at me out of the corner of one eye, then folds forward so that she rests on her elbows. The movement is fluid and elegant. She smells of frost and lavender perfume. As the early morning sun catches her hair, it lights with amethyst and bronze.
My breath quickens. One of the buttons on her gown has come open, revealing a sliver of the smooth, perfect skin of her back. I wonder what it would be like to undo them one by one, to trace my fingers down the hollow of her spine, to follow the touch with my lips. What would her skin taste like? Would her back, so supple and firm, quiver when I kissed it? Would she arch up into my touch?
Or would she
recoil?
I am a monster, and everything about this
daydream is perfect, except for me.
I bite my lip. Remi has never given any sign of … an inclination, as Madam would call it. I have always been free to love any gender I choose, but I am a mage. I know how the rest of the queendom views relationships between two women. Things are slowly changing among the non-magical folk, but Remi was raised in the old beliefs of Queen Celeste’s court.
We are only beginning to be friends again. More than anything, I want her to think well of me.
I can’t hope for anything else.
She closes her eyes as I begin to sing and lets out a little sigh. I don’t need to look at her to loosen the knots that formed under her shoulder blades, but I can’t tear my eyes away. Her head tilts ever so slightly to the side. Her long lashes flutter down.
I’ve never considered healing to be intimate before, but as I heal Remi, I am aware of every breath, every subtle change my magic works inside her. Despite what I did to her in the Opera Hall, she is trusting me.
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