“... Are you out of your mind??” Toby crossed his arms. “Treating your disease isn’t a weakness!!”
“Tcheh. You wouldn’t understand.” Randall faced Toby one more time. “People will judge you for anything. Even things that are out of your control. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. And this time, I can’t let that happen. I can’t let them think I’m weak.”
“He doesn’t belong in the ring anymore, this is no game for pensioners,” I continued to insult him. The journalists loved my taunting behaviour and sharp mouth.
My opponent remained quiet in his seat and looked extremely focused. When one of the journalists asked him about his opinion on me he said: “He surely has a big mouth now, but we all know how it is with dogs that bark aloud.”
"If you have the time to, I'd appreciate it..." Eliza trailed off, feeling nervous. "I seem to be struggling a little."
"That's understandable, your bardic magic relies on intuition and rhythm. We wizards rely on precision, methodology and memorisation to cast.” Julia paused to take a breath before continuing in her soft voice. “What might help is if you show me how you'd normally cast a spell. Identify, perhaps?" Julia removed the ring on her pinky and placed it on the floor before her.
He ducked as one guard tried to grab him, moving backward, "Fuck this, I don't want this anymore!"
The Scientist shook his head, "The experiment is just at the very beginning with the success of candidate three."
“Take off your shirt.” He demanded and my brow furrowed as my mouth opened and closed in attempts to come up with some snarky argument. Finding nothing coming from my lips. My jaw clenched a moment as he gave me a cheeky smile.
“You take off your shirt.” I tried to argue, feeling mildly idiotic. When he quickly obliged, I sighed in frustration as he chuckled at me.
“An Alvaine helping other than any of their own?” Eldrek laughed a deep rumble. “Extremely unlikely. What say you, Alvaine? Tell me your true purpose here.”
“I am a traveller, Commander.” Dainzel replied without looking at the Diabane. “I merely wished to aid these Humaine children in a time of peril.”
“Why’d the fuck you turn off your hearing aids and ignore me like that?! What's wrong with you?! Stop being such a diva b-” Leticia stopped mid-sentence when Raleigh walked up to her face and raised three fingers up at her.
“Three times. THREE times, Leticia! You messed up at live performances and I had to come cover you! When are you going to learn to take your damn responsibilities as a leader seriously!?” Raleigh raised her voice in anger.
“I mean, who goes around and pushes people against walls like that? And for no good reason to boot! Where does he think we are, a Harlequin romance novel? Oh! Not to mention he keeps calling me by my government.”
At that, Des busted a gut. She began to squirm as she tried not to cry. “Oh! Ow! My stomach. Stop, Petite, stop!”
I couldn’t help but scoff. “Brave? Yeah, alright. I bet he’s the one that called you a witch, isn’t he? You probably cast some sort of deception over him. How’d you manage to get that spineless Janus to help you, anyway?”
“I said please.”
“Kadrek! You’ve seen me without my...” Dainzel’s normally calm voice had a slight tremor to it.
“As have you.” Hari heard the Diabane Warrior chuckle amid soft splashes of water.
One of the joys of writing YA is that I can use interrobang.
Liam rubbed his neck. “How about we go to breakfast, you meet the team and we’ll get through it point by point. Sorry for throwing you off the deep end like this, but I’ve figured you’d be more receptive after you’ve met Annabelle.”
“Receptive?” Volya gawked at him. “Receptive?!”
Annabelle giggled behind his back.
"You are aware the production and sale of any and all products of witchcraft is strictly prohibited, and punishable by law?"
"This isn't witchcraft!" said Faine, indignantly. "And these potions are all on the Governor's list of approved items."
“What is that?” Kadrek asked and reached out to touch the side of the Alvaine’s bare hip. She took a sharp breath but did not move back.
“Old wound.” Dainzel replied softly, still not flinching away from the Diabane’s lingering touch. Hari couldn’t believe his eyes.
"breaking the condition would mean you are a criminal."
"and trust me, you don't want to be one right now."
“Huh?” His mouth fell open.
“Yes, we all felt that way... at first.” Maedra grasped his wrist and drew him to sit down at the table.
“How about you stay the fuck away from my band mates?!” Leticia warned.
“Amelia, isn’t that the heifer that harassed you in the woods?” Nicola pointed out as Leticia went red with anger.
“Heifer!? This girl tried to fucking kill me!” Leticia raised her voice which Nicola giggled at her outburst.
"You might be wondering why I called you."
"Yes," Xiao Lin replied with mouthful.
"I want you to become my concubine."
Cough! Cough! Cough!
He chuckled at her as he inspected the pipe, his pipe hung out of his mouth. Eliza, doing as she’s told, put the polish back in the leather pouch.
“This was your mother’s, I got it for her as a gift for our eighth wedding anniversary.” He passed it back to her as he continued. “You’re more than welcome to it.”
“That’s a shame, it’s a beautiful pipe.” Eliza said.
Bard Romance updated today 
“So the medical applications of the combat suit will give the medic a reading of your heartbeat, blood pressure and conscious state whenever you show signs you’re in distress.” The medic explained as we patrolled along.
“Huh, but I wasn’t in distress, maybe it’s a glitch?” We turned a corner only have walked into a wall of gunfire.
An ambush.
I dropped down to the ground immediately and started shooting rounds down in the opposite direction, none of my bullets hitting anyone but forcing a couple to duck into cover.
“What about now?” The medic replied sarcastically.
It's in a much later chapter in my novel.
