She's the One Who Can't Keep Quiet
by S. R. Cronin
GENRE: Historical Fantasy
BLURB:
Do
you know what your problem is?
Celestine,
the fifth of seven sisters, is tired of hearing about hers. Father
thinks she’s frivolous because she likes pretty clothes and caters
to the crowds in the taverns who adore her music. Mother thinks that
because she’s the most social daughter in the family, she can’t
keep quiet about anything.
They’re
both wrong. Celestine hides a secret she has kept for most of her
life.
As
the family beauty and a talented musician with a lyrical voice, she
has the best prospects for marriage to a prince. When such a liaison
never happens, people assume Celestine is too choosy. But even in
somewhat tolerant Ilari, a daughter hates to disappoint her family.
How can she tell them she’s in love with a princess instead?
Lucky
for Celestine, all her sisters are obsessed with an invading army
headed to their realm. Celestine would rather ignore the threat and
enjoy the freedom their lack of attention gives her. But, her voice
can unlock a power that may help save Ilari. And the woman she loves
is determined to fight these invaders. And her family, for all their
talents, seems clueless about how to motivate the masses.
Celestine
knows she can inspire the citizens of Ilari to do what needs to be
done.
Is it time to put her inhibitions aside and use her voice to save
those she loves?
Excerpt:
The days grew hotter and time slowed down as I awaited my two-ank-long astronomy class with Firuza.
“I had no idea so many of you would want to learn about the motions of the moon,” she said surveying the packed room once the first night of class finally came.
The number of students delighted her, but it disappointed me. I’d envisioned only a few of us, perhaps meeting in pubs, with she and I lingering after the others had left. Instead, I shared her with thirty-four other students. I resigned myself to an experience other than the one I’d imagined.
“I love my new home in Ilari,” she told us one evening “but where I was raised, we considered astronomy much more important.”
“Why?” someone asked.
“My people, my original people, traveled more. They used the heavens to find their way.”
“Not many people leave Ilari,” a student agreed. “Why would we? We have everything here anyone could ever want.”
“You do,” she said. “A visitor notices that right away. Yet how many Ilarians are truly happy?”
“Huh?” Several students said it at once.
She shook her head. “Sorry. That was an inappropriate question for this class. What I meant to say was ‘Ilari is a land blessed by incredible good fortune.’”
“Why did you leave the place where you grew up?” one of the bolder students asked. “Was it less fortunate?”
“I … I left for reasons of my own,” she said, hesitating in a way I’d never seen her do. “And then when I tried to return, well, my people weren’t there.”
“They’d left?”
“Some had. Many of them had died.”
The room went silent.
“Was it the …” By then we had all heard rumors of the marauding horde.
“Yes,” she said. “I come from the southeast, a place many, many days of riding from here. The Mongols attacked my homeland eight years ago when I was roughly your age.”
“They destroyed everything?”
She looked at the floor. “They destroyed much. I wasn’t there when it happened so I can’t answer more questions.” Her gaze rose. “And I don’t care to.”
“Will that happen to us?” a young woman asked.
“I hope not. Now, back to our theories to explain the phases of the moon.”
After that, she never brought up personal matters again.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Sherrie Cronin writes stories about people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had. She’s made a lot of stops along the way to telling these tells — living in seven cities, visiting forty-six countries, and working as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. She’s lost too many beloved cats to mention, but has acquired a husband and three children who are all doing fine, despite how odd she is.
Today she lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina where she writes, answers a hotline, and occasionally checks her phone for a message from Captain Picard. She still hopes to get the chance to pursue her remaining dream in life and become Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise.
Author Social Media Links:
Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Goodreads
Amazon ~ BookBub Book Series Blog
4 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
Thanks so much for letting me share with you an excerpt from Celestine's story!
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