Black Heart

Do you still want this?

You’d be surprised to know whom I assigned to the role of Belvina’s daughter 🙃 (not that I plan something big for her but…)

Okay, this is technically a spoiler — but I cannot not share it.

This chapter was written over a month ago, maybe two. Yesterday I went back to edit it, and everything was very clear. Very. And I thought: for heaven’s sake 😤🤦🏻‍♀️— Orion is utterly hopeless.

I’m writing a scene where he’s alone with Burgie — at night, in the woods!!!! — with a girl who has just put her hand on his leg in a room full of witnesses… and he still decides that the appropriate place to begin is by clarifying whether her opposition to their marriage stemmed from one principle or another.

Old habits die hard, I thought.

As a kind of mental exercise, I tried to imagine a version of events in which Orion behaves "appropriately". I was completely honest with myself when I concluded: no. This is the only way it could possibly unfold. It’s simply who he is.