Green but for a Season

Captive Prince Short Stories #1

by C.S. Pacat

Green but for a Season is the first of a series of four Captive Prince short stories. It follows the relationship between Jord and Aimeric and is set during the events of Prince’s Gambit.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Short Stories, LGBT, M M Romance, Queer, Adult

24 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 20, 2016

About the author

C.S. Pacat is the USA-Today best-selling author of Dark Rise, the Captive Prince trilogy, and the GLAAD-nominated graphic novels Fence.

Born in Australia and educated at the University of Melbourne, C.S. Pacat has lived in a number of cities, including Tokyo and Perugia, and currently resides and writes in Melbourne.

Reviews

[Norah Una Sumner]

GOOD THE FUCK BYE

[Lottie from book club]

well that was great, time to reread the entire series

[Alice]

MY BABY WHEN HE WAS A BABY

[Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥]

”I think about you,” Aimeric said.

I love Jord. Wonderful, righteous, naïve and gullible Jord! He was one of my favourite “Captive Prince” characters and I always liked his special relationship with Laurent. In some way I always thought of him as his father-figure and I think he actually might have been.

”Huet has nice ankles,” said Jord.
“I told you I’d take care of it,” said the Prince.

Still he clearly underestimated young Laurent and had no idea what he’s capable of. He might look innocent and naïve with his blue eyes and blond tousled hair but Laurent is anything but green! ;-P
Guess Jord found out the hard way. Haha! Laurent’s way of thinking never ceases to amaze me! <33 I think I love him even more after that! XD

”He is a coldblooded son of a bitch,” Orlant said, proudly.
“He’s green,” said Jord, frowning, because the Prince had left himself vulnerable, and was too young to know it. He argued for you, was the thought, but he was a boy who didn’t know better than to stick his neck out.

And yet, reading this short story the rest of the shards that once resembled my heart broke for him. Laurent was only fifteen in one of the two story lines and he already had to deal with all those intrigues and malicious doings. T_T

The only reason that caused me to give this three stars is that it’s too short and that I’d have loved to get a better look at Jord’s and Aimeric’s relationship! I always wanted to know how it developed and if Aimeric truly loved him, but I guess I’ll never know! *sniff*

[The Bursting Bookshelf of a Wallflower]

3 stars for this short glimpse at Jord and Aimeric!

Story: ⭐⭐
MCs: ⭐⭐⭐
Cover: ⭐⭐

It's no secret that the Captive Prince series has amazing main characters, but it does also have a number of very interesting secondary characters like Jord and Aimeric, on whom this short story is focussing, but also Erasmus or Nicaise.

“Kiss me. Please, I want -” and […] Jord tilted Aimeric's chin up, as the brances of the trees moved back and forth, a gentle, shifting veil, covering them up.

I loved this short scene in Prince's Gamit and I was curious to get a little bit more insight into Jord's character in this short story and while not much is actually happening, these few pages opened up my eyes for his feelings and his intentions and knowing how the story between Jord and Aimeric will end, this was a bittersweet look into something that could have been.

[Hamad]

You must have noticed that I have been on a journey to read all of Pacat books, because she can definitely write. However, I feel she writes best when she writes more, I like the captive prince series more than The Fence comic (I know they are different things) and this short story just didn't add up anything new to the story and it was completely unnecessary!

[Courtney « semi-ia dealing with health nonsense »]

Love these short stories they add a lot to the main books

[imts]

"It meant something to Jord when he became captain..."

I have only one thing to say about this short story: FIFTEEN YEAR OLD LAURENT. I mean, can you believe how obnoxious he was, even back then? It's adorable, really.

i say that as if i don't think absolutely everything about laurent is adorable

[Marta :}]

It was way too short, but it was nice to read more about side-characters, but 20-something pages with them where you also include a lot of Laurent (not that I complain!!) isn't going to give me much of an idea about those characters. I feel like this story was kind of pointless, the writing was really beautiful, so it helped, but it didn't add anything meaningful to the plot. Still, I'm very excited for that short story about Damen and Laurent *my babiesss, yessss* . I hope that one will be longer, please, C.S. Pacat, make me happy!
------------------------------------
GIMME! GIMME! I HAVE MY NEEDS, I'VE BEEN GOING THROUGH WITHDRAWL SINCE KINGS RISING...

[Anna C]

Actually I'm not that excited to read short story about Jord and Aimeric (I need more Lauren and Damen!!! XD) But if it's from C.S. Pacat, I'll read it. Also, maybe this short story will make me understand Aimeric more.

[Isa Cantos (Crónicas de una Merodeadora)]

“I’ve fought under him since he was fifteen...He’s my King”.

Esta es una de las historias cortas del libro The Summer Palace. Aquí nos encontramos con la historia de Jord y Aimeric, dos personajes que conocemos gracias a la trilogía principal. En las cortas veinte páginas que tiene este relato, vemos cómo se forma la relación entre Jord y Aimeric y, sobre todo, se narran momentos del pasado de Jord, de cómo se formó la Guardia y de cómo era Laurent cuando tan solo tenía quince años.

Si bien es el relato que menos me gustó del libro y creo que es completamente innecesario para “entender” la trilogía principal, sí se me hizo simpático, sobre todo por la ligera tensión que había entre Jord y Aimeric y por la escena final.

[Silvia]

Second read: January 4th 2017
I must say I appreciated it more the second time around, but it's still my least favorite piece of C.S. Pacat's work. But that's okay because she gave us The Summer Palace ♥

Original read: September 20th 2016
This was a short but interesting short story!
I liked Jord in the main books and it was nice to see his PoV for a change.
I'm not going to pretend that I wouldn't have preferred it if it had been something about Damen and Laurent, but I still enjoyed this and I know C.S. Pacat loves Jord and Aimeric and she needed to tell us more about them. Now I can't wait for the future novellas (coming out in the next few months)!

[Wanderlust_Wanz]

Clearly, 24 pages is not enough but I'll gladly and humbly take whatever is being offered by C.S. Pacat. It's nice to catch a glimpse of a more intimate interaction between Jord and Aimeric which we didn't get to see in the actual series. BUT lo and behold when my precious Laurent and Damen made a brief appearance, my heart...I. JUST. CAN'T. OKAY!! I will always need more. Can't wait for their short story to be out!!

[Ellen Gail]

3 stars I guess? I LOVED being back in this universe, but this story was so short! There was not much time to develop Jord and Aimeric. It's not just that it left me wanting more at the end, cause duh it did. But the story as a whole left me wanting more. I feel like it was capable of more.

A fine addition to a spectacular series to be sure, but underwhelming.

------------------------
Pre-release ramblings:

I would like to read this today. Please.

[emily]

At this point I'll read anything C.S. Pacat writes. Like, I'd read her grocery lists.

With that said, I found this short story to be somewhat enjoyable, but I didn't love it. I feel like it was too short for me to really get invested in the story and, quite frankly, I just didn't care that much about Jord/Aimeric.
Still, I'm happy that I started my reading year with a work of C.S. Pacat, because I like her writing a lot.

All in all this was an enjoyable, quick read which was just what I needed right now. Kind of forgettable and pointless, though.

➳ 2.5 stars

[— nova]

c.s. pacat’s writing is so stunning, even in this short story. i really enjoyed this, even though it made me sad. jord is one of my favorite side characters, and i like to imagine he one day got his happily ever after because he more than deserves it.

i really like getting to see laurent from his point of view. a genius even at fifteen.

[Len Evans Jr]

I really enjoyed this short story, the author was masterful in her telling, introducing and fleshing out the characters in so very few pages. They became very real and people I cared about. I will definitely be reading the rest of this series!

[Elena Salvatore]

Just an inside of how Jord came to be the Prince's most loyal follower.
You can skip it without missing anything important to the story.

[Nina]

3.5 STARS

Recommended to those with nerve-wracking Captive Prince withdrawals. On the whole, however, 24 pages were not enough to bring some substance into this love story between two important side characters.

Let me put it out there: I tremendously enjoyed being back in this world with these characters. Reading this on my commute actually almost had me miss my stop, that's how immersed I was. Though my heart was anxious for Jord and Aimeric, it went into a frenzy whenever my cinnamon rolls Damen and Laurent were sighted from afar or even just mentioned. I think this perfectly captures the issues I had with this short story. I've had three books to fall in love with Damen and Laurent, but 24 pages were simply not enough space for me to gain insight into Jord and Aimeric. In addition, there are a lot of flashbacks to when Laurent was a young boy, which of course excited me on a massive scale, but this story was supposed to focus on Jord and Aimeric falling for each other, was it not? In the end, we get a little bit of everything – the rise of the Prince's Guard, glimpses of Damen and Laurent, snippets of Aimeric pining after Jord and vice versa – but, in my opinion, this short story would add more to the series if it had focused on one main aspect, elaborated on that, and stuck to it. I can now tell you no more what Jord truly saw in Aimeric – other than his pretty looks and work ethics – than before, which is a shame, considering how important their love affair is to the overall plot.

My verdict is therefore: Enjoyable but should have been more extensive to do Jord and Aimeric's story justice.

[Bárbara]

You don't understand the depth of my love for this story. You can't even begin to imagine what I'd give for it to have been ten times longer.

Jord. Jord, my dear, sweet loser Jord. It's okay, I can call him that because he understands that I love him. I am so goddamn happy to have this story from this particular point of view. This is one of the most interesting things I could have wanted to know about- as far as extended material of the CP world went.

Jord is possibly one of the few people people (outside Damen, clearly) whose vision of Laurent I wanted to experience (the other, sadly, being Auguste), and I wasn't disappointed in the least. This story was just so rich, for so many reasons...

One tiny, teeny, minimal, diminute complain, though: Ending it where it ended is just plain cruel (to the reader). But this woman is always such a pleasure to read, with her unique prose and her wonderful, beautiful words, that I can almost forgive her for being such an incurable tease.

I loved this. I just loved this so, so, SO MUCH. I'm sorry, I usually save my messy, nonsensical reviews for the books I didn't care about (plus a fair amount of salty comments) but I just can't keep myself in line here. My emotions are all over the place and I just can't bring myself to be serious and formal (by my standards).

[Kimberly Carrington-Fox]

Demasiado breve como para darle más valoración pero me parece bonito haber podido ver la formación de la Guardia del Príncipe y la lealtad que inspira Laurent. De lo otro que cuenta no digo nada porque me da el dolorcito 😅

[Lucie V.]

It was nice to see more of Jord, even though overall, it felt a little rushed.

It was bittersweet to see him begining to taste happiness and hope for more, knowing what happens in the trilogy.

1. Captive Prince ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
2. Prince's Gambit ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Kings Rising ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


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[Sophia Triad]

Jord: ‘I’ve fought under him since he was fifteen...He’s my King.’

Jord had been fooled but he has always been faithful to his king.

I strongly believe that you need to read the main series Captive Prince before you read the Captive Prince Short Stories. They are full of spoilers.

[Saimi Vasquez]

Aqui tenemos una pequeña historia corta, desde el punto de vista de Jored, de como se desarrollo su relación con Aimeric. Conocemos un poco el pasado de Jored y como llego a la guardia del Príncipe. Pero también conocemos algo de sus sentimientos por Airmeric y porque se dejo llevar por su "encanto".

[destiny ♡ howling libraries]

"He's my King," Jord said.

Green but for a Season is a short story that fits into the middle of Prince's Gambit , and details the budding relationship between Jord and Aimeric, as well as offering a bit of insight into Jord's past and the Prince's teen years.

There were two heads bent together over the map, one dark-haired, the other blond.

I loved Jord's character during the trilogy, so it was precious enough to see things from his perspective, but my favorite part of the short story was absolutely getting to see not only his opinions of Laurent - who saved him from a life of low-born disgrace at a young age, thus earning Jord's undying love and allegiance - but also getting to see his observations of Laurent and Damen's interactions with one another. What an absolutely adorable addition to the story. <3

[Chantal]

This was nothing special but still a fun read. I recommend it to people who are suffering from Captive Prince withdrawals (like me).

This 24-page short story supposedly focuses on two intriguing side character we get to know in the original series: Jord and Aimeric. And I think had this story actually focused on them, I would have enjoyed it more. Instead, we got a bit of love story interspersed with flashbacks about Laurent as a young prince, the rise of the Prince's Guard and Jord's own anxieties and desires. There was very little that actually helped me understand why Jord and Aimeric developed the relationship they did. Overall, it was an enjoyable short story and I loved being back in this world, but due to the length and lack of focus, the story and the resulting relationship lacked depth.

Really looking forward to the other short stories yet to come!

[edit]

“The Prince—that cold, blond son of a bitch, that high and mighty prick made of ice.” ♥
Green but for a Season allows us to re-visit the past and explore Vere after Auguste’s death. For two years, the symbol of the Crown Prince never flew. It was replaced by the red banners of the Regency, until it was hard to remember that there had ever been a time when anyone had worn stars on their chest. We get to see Laurent at fifteen, never showing weakness, outmaneuvering everyone. This story is a gift.

[J. Taylor]

That last page, so sad. When Jord is so happy and thinks he's not alone any more but the boy is going to later betray him and my heart breaks for him. We saw a glimpse of Laurent when he was a kid when Jord first knew him as it goes back into how he joined the princes guard and he hasnt changed one bit, oh how I love him.
Bring on the next short story and more lenght?

[Sandy Ⓢ]

"—No es al Príncipe a quien estoy tratando de impresionar."

Uhh, autora, te quedaste corta.

[Meret Magdi]

3 stars (:
I WANT MORE LAURENT!!