A Royal Pain

i published a book!!!

 Sorry guys, I didn't actually decide to continue this story past its epilogue, but I appreciate anyone who would really want that, and I hold you dear to my heart. Why I'm really here is to inform anyone that still has this in their library and actually bothers to look at the update that HELLO!!! I'm a published author now! (Self-published, but shh).

My book is called "In the Absence of Light" and it's available on Amazon as both an e-book and a paperback! That's right, you could hold my REAL BOOK in your REAL HANDS!!! It's gay, obviously, and here's a lil elevator pitch for those of you looking for a one-sentence hook:

Theodore Laurent must embark on an impossible mission if he ever wants to see his younger brother again, but his best friend is working against him.

For those of you truly interested, here's a little snippet from the story itself!

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The librarian's still talking — I accidentally tuned her out — but I start listening again just in time to hear her say to Eleanor, "You know, you look kind of familiar..."

Eleanor laughs, but it sounds nervous. "Really?" she says. "I guess I just have one of those faces."

The librarian hums. "Say, what did you tell me your name was?"

"Aliyah," Eleanor says immediately. I frown. Eleanor turns to me and shrugs exaggeratedly. And then, whispering so that the librarian can't hear her, "I'm thinking we should use aliases."

"How come?" I ask.

"Just in case we don't want anyone to know we were here."

I nod, because I guess that makes sense. You never know when you should've hidden your identity until after you didn't hide it. So, "I'm... Exaltor," I add importantly, when the librarian looks at me expectantly. "And this is..." I look at Ren. I panic. "Red."

Ren can't even see me, but if looks could kill...

"Yes," Ren says dully. "It's also my favorite color."

"How... unusual," the librarian comments, and Eleanor snorts. I glare at her. It could be a name!

She's not paying attention to me though, and I suspect it's because she's trying to remember where we're going. The library is like a maze. We're led down several aisles, each identical looking, before we finally stop at a section of tables paired off together, enclosed in yet more shelves. No one else is in this seating area, plus I haven't seen a single other soul in the building, which leads me to wonder if anyone besides us and the librarian are even in here. For a type of people who are supposedly the smartest, Udulans sure don't spend a lot of time reading up.

"This shelf should have a lot of information on the Darkness," the librarian continues, pointing. "And this one over here has a section about Restoring the Light. If you hit electricity, you've gone too far."

She disappears into the stacks after we thank her. Immediately, the three of us plop our supplies on the nearest table.

"Let's divide and conquer," Eleanor instructs. "Theo, help me with the Darkness section. Ren, you could get some books on the Light."

"Um," I say loudly, because obviously that's not going to work, although Eleanor doesn't know that, and we don't want her to know that...

"Come on," she says, and she starts dragging me toward our shelf. I snatch Ren's hand and pull him after us, and as we pass the shelves for the Light, I shove him into it. I don't know what else to do, but hopefully he grabs some of the right books. I hope to the Stars he doesn't come back with ones about electricity.

I'm so distracted thinking about Ren that I have a hard time browsing through my own shelf. I just grab the first few I see, and when Eleanor starts heading back to the table, I turn and follow. Ren hears us and joins us, holding an armful of books and looking uncomfortable.

"Okay, let's see what we've got," Eleanor says, setting hers out on the table. They all look important, having titles like Darkness and its Attributes and The Leading Theories on the Darkness. None of mine look as useful, and when Eleanor questions me on Darkness: A Government Hoax? I insist that it could be important.

Ren, on the other hand...

"How the hell are books on lightning supposed to help us?" Eleanor demands. Ren flushes. He crosses his arms and stands there defensively, though he doesn't actually say anything to defend himself.

"Actually," I say quickly, feeling like I have to remedy the situation somehow. "Ren's illiterate." Ren's mouth tightens ever so slightly.

"What?" Eleanor says.

"Yep!" I say, sticking to my lie. Or — I guess it isn't really one. It just isn't the truth, either. "Can't read a thing, this guy!" I laugh, throwing an arm around Ren's shoulders. He shoves me off.

Eleanor looks vaguely uncomfortable. "I could teach you sometime, if you want," she offers hesitantly, which surprises me. Offering to teach someone to read doesn't seem like the kind of thing you do when you don't like someone. Maybe I've been reading her wrong.

But, "I have no interest in learning," Ren lies. I can tell he's angry with me, but I didn't know what else to do. It was the best thing I could come up with, even though it probably makes Ren feel stupid. I don't want to make him to feel that way — he's one of the smartest people I know. Plus, I just hate making him feel bad in general.

With that, he marches over to the table and takes a seat, and I sit down beside him. Eleanor returns to the stacks to get more of the books we actually need, and I pull one of the books on the Darkness over to myself, flipping it open.

"She hates me," Ren mutters quietly, slumping in his chair.

"You hate her back," I counter, and Ren sits right back up.

"What reason do I have to not like her?" he says.

"I don't know," I say. "Maybe you're jealous."

At that, Ren splutters. And then he clears his throat. "Jealous? W-why would I be jealous?"

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If anyone wants to purchase it on Amazon, I will love you forever!!! Seriously, like, I might accidentally drive to your house and give you a lil' smooch. If you buy it, definitely comment here and let me know! I'd love to hear what you think!

You can also find me on tumblr at jilliancares and on twitter at jacecares! If you want to talk or ask any questions I'm much better at seeing them there <33