The Chronomancer and the Twins of Time Marrakech’s night air clings to me as Karim leaves me at the doors of La Mamounia. His kiss lingers—warm, unresolved, weighted with memories of skin and laughter and the long, slow ache between touches. He sensed the shift in me, even if he can’t name it; perhaps I…
Tag: politics
The COMC Files Book VI Marrakech & Matriarchs
The Chronomancer and the Twins of Time Karim — A Night Unwritten I drum my fingers on the cool rim of my glass, pretending I’m relaxed. When Elena walks in, the air sharpens. She moves through La Mamounia’s restaurant almost regal in that silk dress—Laly’s work, I’d know it anywhere. The fabric drapes, skims, hints…
The COMC Files Book VI-Marrakech & Matriarchs
The Chronomancer and the Twins of Time La Mamounia is an abstraction in every travel magazine I’ve ever read, but now it’s real: cool marble underfoot, palms arching overhead, the hush of money disguised as discretion. The doorman’s bow is nearly theatrical, but I’m grateful, as exhaustion and the low buzz of nausea coil together…
The COMC Files Book VI Matriarchs & Marrakesh
The Chronomancer and The Twins of Time Elena — Arrival in Marrakech I step out of the terminal and the air hits me: sweet, spiced, thick with sun and gasoline. Marrakech smells different—tamarind and mint, dust and something like desire, half exhaust, half prayer. My suitcase wobbles against the cobbles as I scan for Karim….
The COMC Files- Matriarchs III
The Chronomancer and The Twins of Time The flat is quiet—Mikael, diplomatic as ever, has slipped out, probably to fetch Tarmo a fresh suit and a coffee strong enough for the next war. The sight would be comic if it weren’t evidence of all the ways my life has become both impossible and inevitable. Tarmo…
The COMC Files- Matriarchs II
With the house finally quiet, Drina sits at my side, drawing a small, weathered pendant from deep within her many scarves. She fingers the chain already at my neck—the one with the shard from Oued Laou, the one Hasna pressed into my hand in the blue-shadowed market, the very one Tarmo later set in a…
The COMC Files- Matriarchs I
The Chronomancer and The Twins of Time When I come to, I’m no longer upright, but laid out on my bed, someone must have carried me, maybe even the same hands that once kept me from spilling out into London traffic. My breasts ache; I feel the stickiness of ruined silk and something cool pressing…
The COMC Files-London Interlude 12
The Chronomancer and the Twins of Time He puts the car in park, finally meeting my gaze. “Two blokes. Foreign types. Bartley says one’s the fellow from Estonia. The other’s a Russian tough guy of his, apparently.” A shiver—a mix of annoyance, dread, and a touch of perverse excitement—curls up my spine. “All right, Harry….
The COMC Files-London Interlude 11
The Chronomancer and the Twins of Time Dressed and almost feeling ordinary, I gather my things and head outside. To my surprise, there’s Harry, casually propped against the massive black SUV, exuding older-brother protectiveness in his too-short tie. He straightens up as soon as he spots me. “Morning, princess. Dad’s still not at ease: says…
The COMC Files-London Interlude 10
The Chronomancer and the Twins of Time Suddenly, I understand. This miracle pregnancy has shattered the ordinary bounds of time. My connection: with him, with the strange child inside me, lets me drift between ancestral memories and futures not yet written. The golden drops, the singing in lost tongues, the waves of faintness—these aren’t symptoms,…
The C.O.M.C. Files 