Purple paint streaked her hair, and every color of the rainbow covered her shirt. As she looked at him, the most delicious sense of wellness filled his body. She was a healing song in his ears, a crackling fire in his blood.
He sat up, a cloak sliding down from his chest, and pulled Briar toward him. The others crowded in to hug him and slap his back, but he paid no attention to them, intent on the woman in his arms. Briar pressed her cheek against his chest, smudging the paint covering his shirt, and for a moment, all they did was breathe in time with one another.
Then he tipped her face up, her luminous eyes meeting his.
“Thank you,” he said. “And I do.”
“You do what?”
“Love you, specifically.”
A smile broke across that paint-smudged face, and Archer wondered if he had died and gone to the higher realms after all. Briar’s eyes held deep wells of sadness, wells that might never be empty, but at last, joy flowed there too.
This story ends with a promise. It was a solemn promise, the kind made in a breathless, joyful moment. This promise saw a young man named Archer clasping the paint-smudged hands of a young woman named Briar and offering her his world, such as it was, and in return, she promised him her heart, such as it was, every smudged, hopeful piece of it.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Curse Painter. Briar and Archer’s adventures will continue in the sequel. Please sign up for Jordan Rivet’s mailing list to get a special discount when the book launches. You will also receive a free fantasy story!
Keep reading for a preview of Duel of Fire, Jordan Rivet’s epic YA fantasy about a duelist and a prince who team up against a fiery villain.
If you enjoyed this book, please consider writing a review and telling your friends. Thank you!
Acknowledgments
It takes many people to bring a book into the world. This is a story about art magic, so the first people I have to thank are Dane at Ebook Launch, who created the gorgeous design on the cover, and Amanda at Red Adept Editing, who helped me polish the words on each page.
The following people provided vital feedback on the story: Sarah Merrill Mowat, Willow Hewitt, Rachel Andrews, Jennifer Deayton, Amanda Tong, MaryAnna Donaldson, Betsy Cheung, Vishal Nanda, Jenny B, and Ayden and Julie Young. Thank you for your suggestions, encouragement, and generosity.
Thank you to Rick Gualtieri for helping with ads, to Sarah for reading the book in advance, and to Suzannah for inviting me to a new online writing community. As always, thank you to the stalwart crew at Author’s Corner for sticking with me for so long.
This has been a challenging year. Thank you, readers, for checking in on me and for helping to spread the word about my books amidst the distractions. I hope my stories will bring you joy and help you escape the real world for a little while.
Jordan Rivet
Hong Kong, 2020
About the Author
Jordan Rivet is an American author of swashbuckling YA fantasy and post-apocalyptic science fiction. She has written eighteen books across five worlds and doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. Originally from Arizona, Jordan lives in Hong Kong with her husband.
www.JordanRivet.com
Duel of Fire Excerpt
DARA struck the practice dummy with a precise lunge. The wooden figure shuddered under her blade. She recovered to a guarded stance. Breathe, retreat, advance, lunge. She stabbed the dummy three times in rapid succession. Arm. Head. Heart.
Her breathing steady, she recovered and checked her form. She couldn’t afford any wasted movements. The Vertigon Cup was only two months away, and she had to be perfect.
Breathe, retreat, advance, lunge. Again.
“Practice as you compete.” Her coach’s words replayed in her head as the air hummed with the quick slice of her blade. “If you want to be the best, you train each time like you are fighting for the Cup. This is no practice duel, no just-for-fun game. Fun is for children. You are an athlete.”
Dara hit the dummy again, the blunt point of her sword adding check marks to the battered surface. She wanted to be the best. She had trained for years, sweating through intense workout sessions, fighting opponent after opponent in an effort to show her worth as a duelist. She would not ease up in the final stretch.
Sweat dripped through Dara’s hair as she completed her forms. She did a hundred perfect lunges every day before her coach arrived. If they weren’t perfect, she started over. After the hundredth one, her arms and back felt limber, though there was a bit of tightness in her left calf. She set her blade on the stone floor and worked at the muscle. It was always cold in the dueling school, even in midsummer, and she hadn’t warmed up enough today. She usually ran across the bridges on her way to practice, but today rain fell thick on the mountain, making the boards slippery. She couldn’t afford an injury this close to the biggest tournament of the season.
Dara didn’t just want to win the Vertigon Cup. She was going pro. She had finished her basic education and graduated to the elite adult division six months ago. Her parents had grudgingly given her permission to continue training in the afternoons as long as she worked in their shop in the mornings. She’d have to start earning her keep full-time soon unless she could pull off a big victory. The prize money was part of it, but if she won the Cup, she could sign
