Today I don’t have one guest but TWO! They are the main characters of Of Knights and Books and Falling In Love. Thanks, Rita A. Rubin for letting me borrow them for a couple interview.
Interview
Time to find out how your beloved sees you. Please, describe each other.
Jayce: Alexius de Viccarri is a tall and very handsome—
Alexius: Handsome, eh?
Jayce: Hush. And very handsome knight. He’s also incredibly kind and charming. Which can be a bit irritating, since it means people are prone to falling in love with him as soon as they meet him.
Alexius: [laughs] I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration. All right, so my turn is it? I would describe Jayce as being a very witty young man who can be unexpectedly sweet. He’s also not bad on the eyes, either.
Jayce: [pinches Alexius on the arm]
This one’s for Alexius. In the story we notice Jayce’s feelings changing from the moment he met you. What was your first impression of him? Did you like his old look?
Alexius: Well, the first time I met Jayce, I only knew him as Grey, the Dark Lord’s henchman, and someone who had brought a lot of pain and suffering to my homeland. He’d also had me locked up in a dungeon. So, I’m sure you can imagine that I didn’t have very warm feelings for him at the time. But of course, that all changed. I came to Jayce for who he really is and well . . . I’m sure you can guess the rest.
Jayce: And the way I looked before? What did you think of that?
Alexius: Hm. I wouldn’t say you looked “bad” as you did before. But I do much prefer the way you look now.
Jayce, you were hesitant to let Alexius cut your hair. Now that you’ve had more time to get used to your new haircut, is Alexius going to be your official hairstylist?
Jayce: I suppose he did a good enough job with it. I don’t know if I’d call him my official hairstylist, but I’d be willing to let him do it again. He can even use the sheep shears again, if he’d like.
What’s a trivial thing you always disagree with?
Jayce: That books need to have a happy ending.
Alexius: Because they do.
Jayce: No. They don’t.
Alexius: But how can you enjoy a book that ends with everything being sad? What is even the point of getting invested in a story and its characters if they all die at the end?
Jayce: Because it’s realistic. And it can catch you off-guard when the characters you’ve grown fond of die at the end. Which makes it exciting.
Alexius: I don’t want to be caught off-guard! I want to know the characters all made it and are happy in the end.
Jayce: [sighs] Let’s just skip to the next question.
(Whoops!) Alexius, please say something family-friendly to make Jayce blush.
Alexius: [reaches over and brushes hair back from Jayce’s face] Every day I thank whatever forces of fate are out there for bringing us together. And I don’t think I could ask for any greater gift in life than to have you by my side.
Jayce: [blushes]
Finally, tell me something nice about each other that they don’t already know or won’t accept.
Alexius: Often, when Jayce first wakes up in the morning, he scrunches up his nose and makes a very adorable sound. I think he sounds a bit like a sleepy cat. He always gets embarrassed when I mention it, though.
Jayce: Alexius actually gives great—
Alexius: Jayce! Keep it family-friendly.
Jayce: —hugs. I was going to say hugs.
Alexius: …
Jayce: … What did you think I was going to say?
Alexius: Um, nothing. Don’t—Don’t worry about it.
Read Jayce and Alexius’s love story in Rita A. Rubin’s cozy slice-of life fantasy Of Knights and Books and Falling In Love. Preorder now and get yourself some goodies*!
*Pre order campaign details can be found here:
About Rita A. Rubin
Rita A. Rubin (she/they) is an Australian author. She was born and raised on a farm with mud tractors and lettuce aplenty. Rita currently resides in Melbourne with her cat, dog and ever-growing book collection. When not busy creating a new book, Rita enjoys drawing, reading, playing video games and going for walks with her dog, Sadie. Amulet of Wishes (Chronicles of the Guardians #1) was Rita’s debut novel in 2021.
Tiny Elf Arcanist 
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