Author: Ginn Hale

Characters: Belimai Sykes & William Harper

I didn’t intend to share any confidence that might endanger Harper, but I nodded.

“Then he must come with you. I’ll find work for him on my estate.” The duke patted my hand in an almost paternal manner though he couldn’t have been even a decade my senior. “It can’t have been easy for the two of you here.” Continue reading Mr. Sykes and the Noble Muse (Pt. 4) →

Author: Ginn Hale

Characters: Belimai Sykes & William Harper

“You must be Mr. Belimai Sykes!” He shook my hand and held it between his own for several moments too long while beaming down at me with all the delight of a fox taking possession of a chicken coop.

In the glow of so many candles, his red hair shone like polished copper and his green eyes seemed almost to sparkle in his angular face. He could have passed for a youth of twenty if it hadn’t been for the faint smile lines etched into the corners of his full mouth. The garnet shade of his clothes and their perfect fit flattered both his coloring and his graceful, slim form. A distinctly pleasant scent of calendula and leather drifted from him. Continue reading Mr. Sykes and the Noble Muse (Pt. 3) →

Author: Ginn Hale

Characters: Belimai Sykes & William Harper

Miss Sophia Venet, Squire Marcy’s fiancé and the only child of the indulgent old Baronet of Lindmead, possessed the dark-haired and doe-eyed beauty that made her strongly resembled Harper’s sister Joan –at least in body, though certainly not in fiery temperament. I found Miss Venet pretty enough and quick witted, if in the naïve manner of a girl who’d never known any form of hardship or hunger. But after making conversation with her on the subject of the city fashion of lace conversation fans and then listening to her ponder deeply upon the plight of the poor Prodigals of Hells Below–who hadn’t the means to purchase such crucial fans—I felt that I’d rather spend a few hours batting myself about the head and face with a wine bottle than have to endure anymore of her deeply sincere and utterly ignorant opinions of how “my people” might be improved. Continue reading Mr. Sykes and the Noble Muse (Pt. 2) →

Author: Ginn Hale

Characters: Belimai Sykes & William Harper

Raindrops twisted and swung like glass baubles flung from a jewelry box as the wind tossed them through the darkening sky. The air tasted wet and smelled of apples turning slowly to cider amid decaying golden leaves. There were worse evenings to be out on a roof and considering the condition of the tiles there wasn’t really all that much of a difference between inside and out in a number of places. Continue reading Mr. Sykes and the Noble Muse (Pt. 1) →