#WritingPrompt...Tuesday?

 

Hey guys, I'm back with another photo writing prompt. I know I usually do them on Wednesday, but sometimes as I'm scrolling along Pexels, a picture triggers a scene for me. The picture for this week totally jumped out at me. It took me a couple of paragraphs to understand where I was going with it, but I got the hang of it and the story started spinning for me. Here is the image:

So, as I started to write out the scene, the whole story started to unfold. And that's when the excitement started. I had this idea for these black fairies, but I couldn't quite figure out how to introduce them to the world. Or even what kind of world to put them in. I like fantasy, and I really love the fantastical, but I do admit to loving a little bit of realism in my magic. I want to add just enough of the real world in this one, that it seems almost possible. I got so excited about the story that I made a mood board. Please peep below!! I am adding this to my 'to write' pile and will flush out this story. I'm so excited about it. 

But anyways, back to the photo prompt. So, for some reason, at first glance of the sewing machine, the shadows called to me. I could imagine standing there in that semi-dark holding a coffee mug and contemplating...something. At the time I wasn't sure, but then the idea unfolded. What scene comes to mind for you? What would your character contemplate in that dark space? Past mistakes, optimism for their future? For me, I saw Raine there, slowly trying to gather herself together and face, after many years apart, the man that she thought she would love forever. So now, I have an idea for maybe a second chance, lovers to enemies to lovers type of thing and I can't wait to write it. 

What I'm posting below is the scene that came to my head. It's unedited, probably a little all over the place because excitement took over. It's the thoughts as they came to my head the same as with my other writing prompts. Leave me a comment if you're looking forward to hearing Luke and Raine's story. 

Here is the mood board. What do you think?

She stared at the ancient machine, her mind spinning with thoughts of another time. A time when she was carefree, happier than she was now. The fresh blush of youth colored everything for her, including…she cut off that thought. The sewing machine sat mostly abandoned in her sunroom, mere decoration at this point. She didn’t use it anymore. Precisely for the memories it brought up. Beyond the glass walls of the sunroom, boats bobbed along the dock, swaying in the fall wind. It was a sight that normally she found comfort in. Never had she wanted to get on one of those boats and sail away as bad as she did today.

She clutched the mug in her hand. The hot tea had the ceramic warm against her palms. It was a relief, really. It balanced out the cold taking over the rest of her body. She licked her lips and took a deep breath, turning back to her guest. Could she call him that? He’d seen so much of her, inside and out. Did that familiarity take away his guest status? She shivered as memories of the silken slide of sheets and his roughened hands played through her mind. She studied Luke, her eyes tracing over his smooth chestnut skin. His handsome face was framed by his close cropped fade, his beard immaculately groomed, low against his strong jaw. His low hair cut exposed the pointed tips of his ears, not that he’d ever try to hide them. It was a source of pride to them all.

He was fucking hot…still…and it made her want to throw her mug against the wall just to hear it shatter.

“Raine?”

His deep voice was the same, and held the same power over her. Damn him. She cleared her throat and finally raised her gaze to his eyes. His dark heated stare tried to pull her back into those memories of them. She couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat. She lifted a brow instead.

He sighed and leaned back in her wooden dining room chair. “Even after all this time, we can’t just talk?”

Anger shot through her. The lights throughout the house flickered in response. “You haven’t come to talk to me, you’ve come to ask a favor. Don’t pretend otherwise.”

Luke tucked his hands into the pockets of the black, —probably exorbitantly expensive— wool pea coat he wore, stretching out his legs. His thick dark brows lowered and he studied her.

“You’re still angry?”

She scoffed, but didn’t answer.

“If things were different then…”

“Don’t come trying to sell me wolf tickets. In no world can an Aziza Prince marry a lowly seamstress, pretending things were different is for children. State your business and leave.” Raine dropped all pretense of polite disinterest.

It hurt having him in the home she worked so hard to get. She’d worked her ass off to blend into the human world and attain her comfortable lifestyle. Just two minutes in his presence was taking her back to that young malleable and lovesick fool she’d been. Sneaking kisses from the prince, dreaming of a life outside of her family’s small cottage on the edge of the Aziza kingdom. Luke smiled, the same smile that had talked her into dark corners of the royal estate.

He looked around, his curious gaze taking in the gold, bell shaped pendant lights hanging over the antique wooden table. He looked down at polished tile that ran the length of her kitchen and flowed out to the dining area, ending at the dark wooden floors that covered the rest of the living area.

“Not so lowly,” was his comment as he met her eyes again.

“What have you come for, Luke?” She refused to let his comment warm her.

“Raine,” he sat forward, putting his forearms on the table between them. “Something has happened.”

“Does it have anything to do with the rumors that the Aziza are coming out to humans?” She was a fashion designer in the human façade she’d built for herself. Many of her fabrics came from the same Azizan textile manufacturers she’d worked with when she was a palace employee. She’d kept abreast of all things gossip coming from the kingdom as a result.

“So you know?”

“It’s true?” Her eyes widened and she put down her mug, surprise flowing through her.

Not that she doubted gossip, but the rumor had been so outlandish that she’d dismissed it outright.

“Images of our hunters were caught on human technology, more than once. Jervis thinks the time for hiding is done.”

Raine swallowed a growl at the mention of his brother. “Your father is king, what does he say?”

He sat back, wiping a hand down his face. “Baba is old-fashioned, he wants to offer our technology and magic to the humans in an exchange.”

“And Jervis wants war?”

“To his way of thinking, humans are warmongers. They’ll likely react to our presence with violence.”

Raine sighed and shook her head. She couldn’t argue either of their points. She’d lived among the humans for fifteen years. She lifted her cup and sipped at her tea wincing at the temperature. Using her magic she warmed it again. She thought about what it would look like, this world where Aziza and humans coexisted. The warehouse where she and her other Aziza coworkers wrought the delicate, decadent lingerie she designed and with the help of magic was a closely guarded secret. How would humans react if they knew there were actual magic beings in their world under their nose? She shook her head and decided that it wasn’t her business what the Azizan royal family did. She was safely ensconced as a human. If worse came to worst, she could ride out and weather whatever came from it.  

“What do you want from me? Insight on the humans? Your family has spies for that.” The Tedana family employed a cadre of people whose only job was keeping track of humans and their world.

Luke drummed his fingers on the top of her table. She shuddered in memory of how those same fingers brought her pleasure.

“I have a tentative plan for how to ease our coming out.” His lids lowered and he licked his lips. “And it involves you.”

“Me,” she sputtered, dripping tea on her blouse.

She stood and walked over to the kitchen counter, using a paper towel to wipe the front of her shirt, stalling. He followed her, leaning against the kitchen island, his arms crossed over his chest.

“I want you to marry me.”

He dropped it so casual, so fucking….so…ergh!

She whipped around and narrowed her eyes. She felt her ears rising, poking through her straightened hair. She was so damn mad. How dare he? How dare he come into her home and dangle the one thing she’d wanted more than anything as though it were nothing, an afterthought to him.

“Leave,” she hissed.

“Wait. Hear me out, Raine.”

“Fuck you, Prince Lucas Marcel Tedana. Fuck you, get out.”

He didn’t move, but his jaw flexed, the only outward sign of his anger. “I’m not trying to hurt you, Raine, you have to know that.”

“How would I know that? You manage to hurt me every time we’re together.”

He flinched, pain flickering in his eyes before he lowered his gaze. “Raine…I.” He stepped closer to her, his arms falling down to his sides. “The circumstances weren’t right for us.”

“But now they are? Whatever, Luke.” She pushed past him, headed for her garage. If he wouldn’t leave, she would.

He grabbed her arm as she passed. “Please, Raine, I just need a few minutes of your time. Please.”

Her shoulders deflated at the plea in his tone. “Say what you have to say and get out of my house.” She whispered.

He released her arm and put distance between them. She was glad he’d done it because despite her anger and bravado, she’d never been able to resist his touch.

“The humans are fond of their tabloids and you’re famous in their world. I want to convince my father that marriage between us will help introduce the Aziza to the humans.”

“You cannot be serious?” Shock held her in place. Shock and to her utter humiliation…longing.

“I’m very serious. You’re already known to them. If you come out as Aziza and marry into the Azizan royal family, the ensuing spectacle would ease the way.”

She moved to the stools at her kitchen island and flopped down. She put her head onto the counter and took a few deep breaths. She looked up after a few moments of silence.

“Your plan is to throw me under the bus?”

The fucking audacity.

“No, not at all, Raine, I would be there with you.”

She snorted. “Oh, like you were those many years ago? You’ll be there as your mother embarrasses me in front of the entire royal court?” She stood, rage making her hands shake. “You’ll be there like you were when she kicked me out and banned me from the kingdom?”

“Raine, I was—”

“You were a coward! I didn’t come to the human world because I wanted to. I was forced here to escape the constant ridicule from our people. And now you want me to help those same people?”

Anger lit his eyes, his magic crackling around him. “I am not a coward. Duty to the kingdom comes first! I had a job to do. Had I known what my mother was up to, I would never have left you behind.”

“Pretty story now that everything is over,” she snapped.

“It’s not a story, Raine. I loved you with every ounce of my being. I damn near died when I found out you’d left. You think I would have allowed that to happen to you?” He grabbed her shoulders.

She slapped away his hands, refusing to meet his eyes. “Get out. I’ve heard what you had to say, and my answer is no.”

He stared at her, his face torn, emotions flowing across his face, easy to read. Raine had never had a problem reading Luke’s face. He was an open book to her, never hiding behind the face he put on for everyone else. She was scared of what she read on his face in this moment. It threatened to rewrite years of what she believed.

“I’ll try again in a few days when you’ve calmed down,” he said softly, backing away from her.

“Don’t come back.” She worked hard to make sure the plea in her heart didn’t reflect in her voice.

Their gazes crashed, years of anger, lost love and desperate tears fell between them. She wouldn’t let him stray her from the path she’d set for herself. She refused to get pulled into the whirlwind that was Luke.