Our Favorite Snippets From RatB

Nicolas here again, random people. 

And Nicoline. Why are you calling them random people?

I don't know. They're people, and they're random. It fits.

Anyway, we wanted to take some time here today to share with you all some of our favorite snippets and such from our story. 

Unfortunately, Kiri had her laptop off for a long while today, and we don't know her password so we had to wait for her to turn it on this afternoon to check her email before we were able to get to this post. Hope you enjoy this!

~*~*~*~

A voice spoke from behind him. “It's rather pretty.”

Dmitri turned to smile at the speaker but frowned when he saw only one person standing there. “Nicoline, where's Nicolas?”

His sister shrugged. “I don't know. He said he had a surprise for you.”

Dmitri scowled. Young Prince Nicolas, full of the unfortunate mischief that plagued most twelve-year-old boys, did not usually have very good surprises. Most of them resulted in a mess that Dmitri himself had to clean up. He did not look forward to this newest surprise. Nicoline, however, was not disturbed by whatever trouble her twin was up to now.

“What's with the frown?” she asked. “Aren't you happy?”

“Perfectly.” The word came out in a growl.

She only laughed. “It could be worse. Mother could start off your courtships again.”


Dmitri winced, remembering the fiascoes of visiting dignitaries and supposedly eligible young ladies of rank. Nicoline was right; it could be worse – far worse.

~*~*~*~

“Whoops!”

Janelle jumped at the sudden yell, and something behind her splatted. She whirled to find a smashed cream pie on the floor – right where she’d been standing.

“Sorry, sorry. It slipped. I didn't mean to get you.”

Janelle peeked behind the broad door to see a young boy descending a ladder leaning against the floor-to-wall shelves. His light hair was mussed and he was missing both shoes, although his clothes spoke of his obvious wealth. When he reached the floor and turned, Janelle instantly knew him.

“Prince Nicolas.”

He waved away her curtsy. “Don't bother with that. Did I get you?”

“No, I remain unscathed, Your Highness.”

“That's a relief, but now I have to go back to the kitchen for another pie. I was going to drop it on my sister,” he explained. “I really didn't mean to aim for you. I just thought that Nicoline was early.”


Janelle felt her eyebrows go up. “Do you usually play jokes like that on your sister?”

~*~*~*~

One morning, Janelle found herself hanging over the balcony in the ballroom with Nicoline. She held multiple threads in her hands and looked down to where the girls had tied a feather duster to the opposite ends.

“You think this is going to work?” Nicoline asked.

Janelle smiled. “I used to do this all the time with my cousin. I just hope my fingers remember what they used to do.”

The balcony wasn't incredibly high, but looking down at the duster below them made Janelle's head swim – just a little bit. She shoved the feeling down fiercely. Now was not the time to get dizzy.


“Shh! Here he comes!” Nicoline ducked behind the railing as footsteps sounded below them. Janelle hunched, out of sight, but still able to see everything clearly. Nicolas marched into the ballroom. He stopped short when he saw the feather duster suspended in thin air a foot off the floor, standing upright as if it were a real person.

~*~*~*~

Hope you enjoyed all of those! And no, we did not pick out scenes with us in them on purpose.

Hey, was this a whole post where we didn't actually fight at all while writing it?

Nicolas, we really don't fight all the time, you know.

No, we just like people to think that we do. Helps our reputation as royal twins.