Secrets of a Prince (The Princes of New Sargasso #3) - Carol Moncado Page 0,2
a sigh as he sat on the lounge under the map of Trilunium. “But still. A knight? We won’t even have real names.”
“Everyone will know who you are. Unless they think you’re me, of course.”
His brother snorted. “We all know I’m the better looking one.”
“Regardless, no one will suspect we’re the mysterious twin princes who attend TriluniCon every year.”
“Do you think Kari will ever let us read the partial manuscripts?” Caleb hung one leg over the arm of the lounge as he laid down.
“Maybe. Who knows? I think I’d rather not read them, though. Knowing we’ll never know how they end would be torture. I know I can make up my own endings in my head, but that’s not the same.”
As much as he loved his brother, Joss wasn’t in the mood for one of their long evening conversations about not much of anything. He had his own apartment for a reason - so he could shut people out.
Too bad he’d forgotten to lock the door.
With a start, Caleb hopped up. “I’m going to get some work done or something. I’m too restless to sit around.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
A minute later, Joss was once again alone.
He logged back in to the Trilunium server. As earlier, he wasn’t interested in watching the scroll of comments over the new cover and the upcoming release party.
Instead, he wanted to know if NotCharlotte95 was back on. Sometimes when she left quickly, she came back a bit later. Other times she didn’t.
He left the sound up to hear the chime if she joined and went to the message boards where the fan fiction was posted.
For about an hour, he scrolled through the most recent posts and read the comments left by the readers.
He didn’t leave any comments - he never did - though he enjoyed some of the stories. His stories were posted under a completely different name that did nothing but post stories and reply to the comments left about his work.
After looking through the new posts in the general section and finding nothing of interest, he opened the document with his most recent story in it.
The TriluniMunity prided itself on the overall quality of the stories posted in the archive. There was a special area of the message boards set aside for young or new writers to post their stories so that readers would know the authors were young or new and be more inclined to kindness in their feedback.
Some were a little too brutally honest. It even stung for Joss at times, and he’d developed a thick skin early on.
Numerous stories had been written about what happened to Queen Maria and Prince Patrick after they failed to return to Trilunium or arrive in the The Enchanted Beyond in book five. Joss had even written a couple of stories with his theories.
None of them held a candle to the real thing.
When Kari discovered she was the heir to the Trilunium estate, she had let him and Caleb read it before deciding whether or not to publish the book.
And he’d let it slip to NotCharlotte95. Maybe she’d believe he got called away unexpectedly and not that he was avoiding her question.
One of his other acquaintances sent him a private message, asking his thoughts on the cover and the release party.
Joss chatted with him a bit while also adding about a thousand words to the story he was working on.
Now that a new Trilunium story existed in the real world, he wasn’t sure how he felt about continuing to post his stories online.
The Trilunium estate had always been okay with it, as long as no money was made outside of fundraising enough to cover operating expenses for the database and web hosts. On a couple of occasions, they’d received permission to do a fan-zine fundraiser to support a beloved member with health issues or who lost their home to a fire.
With a swipe, Joss closed the story window and then the chat.
Now that the Trilunium heir had been found and things were changing, it just didn’t seem right anymore.
Maybe it never would again.
2
Minnie slid her hand into the elbow of the protective knight who offered to escort her to the coat check to pick up her swag bag. A thrill ran through her at the contact, something she’d never felt with anyone before, not like this.
The same knight who had escorted her to her seat earlier before leaving for his own seat with his family.