Character Interview - Gideon [SPARKS AND SHADOW]
If you've read my book, you know that Gideon is a Fae warrior who loves whiskey and never wears shoes. But have you ever wondered about his past?
Today, I'm sharing a little deleted scene between him and Everly as they practice shooting in a clearing. I hope you enjoy it!
Thwump. Thwump.
I lowered the bow, tossing Gideon a satisfied grin.
“Not bad, chickie,” he conceded. “But don’t get overconfident now. You still have a long way to go.”
I quelled the urge to stick my tongue out at him. A long way to go? I’d started shooting a bow only a week ago and I was practically a master already. Bria’s thugs better watch out.
Gideon walked across the clearing to pull my arrows out of the stump we were using as a target. I watched the dappled sunlight play across his broad shoulders. His pointed ears stuck out of his mussed hair.
As he returned to my side and picked up the bow, I found myself giving in to my curiosity. “Can I ask you some questions, Gideon?”
He glanced at me, his hazel eyes twinkling. “Could I stop you if I tried?”
I pretended to think about it. “Probably not.”
“Then ask away, darlin’.” He pulled back the string, his shoulders relaxing in a visible breath, and let the arrow fly.
It struck the target with another thwump. Bullseye. Of course.
“I know your sister is gone,” I said slowly. “But what happened to your parents?”
If Gideon was bothered by my question, he didn’t show it. “They died a long time ago. My sister and I were alone for many years before the Schism.”
“Were you close with them?”
His mouth tilted up in a crooked smile. “Oh, yeah. My sister and I ran them ragged with our tricks. My father used to throw us over his shoulder, one on each side, and toss us into the house for dinner every night.” He paused and shot me a full grin. “That is, if he could catch us.”
I smiled at the thought of a tiny Gideon running around with his sister. What was he like before his sister died and he became the never-serious, always-drunk Fae I’d come to know? “They sound great.”
“They were.” Gideon let another arrow fly and didn’t even look when it hit the target. Bullseye. “What’s with the questions?”
I shrugged. We were days away from taking back the gate so I could go back to Seattle, and now that we were here, I found myself burning to know more about the Fae I’d spent the past six weeks with. We’d been so busy preparing for this moment that I hadn’t taken the time to ask any of them these questions. Once I went back to Seattle, I’d never get the chance again.
“Just curious, I guess,” I answered, avoiding Gideon’s gaze.
Gideon clapped me on the shoulder. “Thios is growing on you, isn’t it, chickie? It’s okay; you can admit it. You want to live here in the trees with the monsters forever.”
I shrugged him off with a reluctant laugh. “Monsters?”
“That’s what you thought we were in the beginning, right?”
Who had told him that? I didn’t think I had mentioned those words aloud. Even if I had, I would never admit to it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you don’t.” Gideon grinned.
I took the bow from him and nocked an arrow, ignoring Gideon’s cheeky laugh. Maybe Gideon and the others had grown on me a little, and maybe I had reluctantly grown to like Thios. So what? It didn’t change the fact that I had to go back to Seattle.
But something in the way Gideon nudged me with his shoulder made my cheeks warm. Thios—and the Fae who lived here—wasn’t so bad after all.
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