He found all the sisters beautiful, but it was Stevie- he thought- who looked like an angel. Her eyes were nearly colorless, gray even. Her hair was pale the color of a wheat field, and her skin tanned. She was to him someone his sisters could look up to, a role model, a real woman of the west.
"Mr. Lewis" she spoke his name softly, her voice he noticed was slightly raspy. Though he had spoken to Billy and Jamie several times Stevie was never one to speak very much. Not in front of him anyway.
"Please" he said looking around noticing all at once he wasn't in his own room "call me Ephraim... where am I?" This was a much grander looking room than his, the walls were wooden, and the ceilings were high, the bed was large with a fur blanket covering him, this had to be the Steele's home, but how did he end up here?
He looked again to Stevie; she wore a somber expression.
"There was an accident..." she looked at him very seriously "Don't you remember being shot?"
He leaned his head back on the fluffy pillow behind him and closed his eyes. When he had discovered three unknown men on his ranch taking his cows, he had lost it and, his shoulder- he was shot! His sisters?
"Sophie and Tess are here they're safe." she said as if reading his mind
He sighed relief and rubbed his forehead, had he fallen from his horse? "My head..." he said feeling nausea overtake him all at once. He closed his eyes once more and willed himself not to be sick.
Stevie left only momentarily and brought him, from the smell of it- Peppermint tea. He sipped it and offered his thanks.
"Mr. Lewis, glad to see you're up" Billy spoke much louder than Stevie as he walked into the room.
His mustache moved as he talked, and he realized that Billy had the same eyes as Stevie did. However, instead of the blond hair, his hair was gray from age.
Li Xiang is the Priestess of the Moon, she can see read the stars and fortune as well as misfortune to her people. However, the life of a Priestess consists of nothing but loneliness: she can neither leave the palace nor meet with anyone but the Emperor and his advisors.
One day a mysterious servant boy named Rui sneaks into her room, daring her to go outside if he wins against her in a game. Upon meeting him, she also befriends a female warrior and a scholar, and realizes life is much more than the palace. When the day comes she can either choose to go down the road her heart truly desires but bring ruin to the kingdom, or ignore the one chance she will ever have to leave this life?
***
"My fate has been decided for me."
"There's no such thing as that," he said. "We all make our own fate."
"But the stars tell me--" I stopped talking when he holds my face in his hands, warm hands cupping my cheeks, brown eyes looking into my eyes.
"Then stop looking at the stars. Look at me."
A love story about fate, finding one's identity, stepping out of your comfort zone, and, most of all, choosing between your happiness or the happiness of others...
[[Word Count: 80,000-90,000]]
Wattys Fantasy Winner 2021