Rather than leave immediately – and having sat alone with herself for quite long enough – Saphienne went out to look for Laewyn and Iolas, searching through the labyrinth that was Celaena’s house until she eventually wandered into a gra...
2025-06-26 12:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostNo deep conversation followed when the three apprentices arrived at Celaena’s house; they were all too tired and shaken by their lesson on Fascination. Saphienne imagined that the others felt much as she did, that they wanted...
2025-06-24 11:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone,
If you check out the new banner for the Patreon, you'll get a glimpse – or a glance – of the art for the new, forthcoming cover for The Elf Who Would Become A Dragon.
Thanks for reading,
LJ
2025-06-22 10:09:11 +0000 UTC View PostThe wizard led his apprentices out of his parlour and into the night, shutting and locking the door behind them with an arcane gesture. His fluorescent familiar fluttered by Saphienne and took to the treetops, there to scout around them ...
2025-06-19 12:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe next morning Saphienne was quieter than usual, and she could tell Celaena had assumed she was in another bad mood from the space that the older girl gave her. Yet as they walked through the village and passed by the storeh...
2025-06-17 12:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostThis is infuriating.
I am about ready to murder Microsoft Word's autocorrect. It silently corrected the name "Celaena" to "Cecilia" in Chapter 21 of The Elf Who Would Become A Dragon, and none of us – none of me and my test readers – noticed.
I've fixed it now, but as you...
2025-06-14 00:35:14 +0000 UTC View PostHello!
Thank you very much for reading The Elf Who Would Become A Dragon. This message isn't to guilt you into joining as a paid member — I don't know your situation, and speaking as someone who is quite broke, I know how awful it feels to want to suppor...
2025-06-13 22:50:17 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the apprentices had finished their lesson – ending by meditating on a pointedly realistic hallucination of a lavender shrub, Almon sitting with them to maintain it against their disbelief – they went back to Celaen...
2025-06-12 12:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostOn the fifth morning of her introductory lessons, Saphienne was surprised to find her mother awake, bathed, and dressed when she descended the stairs. Pausing halfway down, hand on the railing, she eyed her mother with suspicion; the el...
2025-06-10 12:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post“Choice,” Iolas said, quite timidly. “We haven’t really considered choice.”
Sat beside him in their classroom, Saphienne was given pause by the hesitation she read in Iolas, who seemed less unsure of his answer to their m...
2025-06-05 12:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostRain was lightly falling when Saphienne emerged from her family home — and she nearly walked right into Iolas and Celaena, where they were huddled on the doorstep under his umbrella.
Before she could say anything, both of her fri...
2025-06-03 12:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostThey wandered the shore of the lake for an hour, Iolas listening as Saphienne recounted – in exacting detail – almost everything she had done to prevent their master from learning the truth. She omitted her last conversation with Taere...
2025-05-29 12:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostSleep refreshed Saphienne, so much so that she woke up alert and angry. Quite why she was irate was a mystery to her as she lay comfortably in bed, last night’s dreams elusive, but when she stretched and faced the morning light she immed...
2025-05-27 12:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostIn contrast with her journey to the shrine, Saphienne thought about very little on her way back to the village. Her head ached and her limbs felt weighed down by gold, though her weariness didn’t impede her from enjoying the twilight hour,...
2025-05-22 12:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Saphienne finally resurfaced, she felt warm and caring hands tracing gently across her brow. She lay wherever she was and let herself be soothed, aware that aches and pains awaited her once the moment was passed.
Eventually, curiosit...
2025-05-20 12:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostWhereas the priest and the spirit had wandered away from Saphienne amicably, with ease befitting a close friendship, when they concluded their conference a change came over their demeanour. Nelathiel moved with vigorous, hulking purpose, the h...
2025-05-15 12:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostWithin the grassy grounds of the shrine to Our Lord of the Endless Hunt, Saphienne sat before the sacred icon in sudden dread. She dared not show her concern to the priest, however, and slipped back into the same posture of deceit as ...
2025-05-13 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostHere, now, we climb toward the mysteries that have been conspicuous by their absence in this tale. You are not an elf, and so you have assumed much about the elves of the woodlands — as was intended by the one who penned this account....
2025-05-08 12:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostMorning sunlight cheerfully shone down through the trees, its warmth incongruous with the sudden chill Saphienne felt as Taerelle stepped toward her.
The senior apprentice’s voice was crisp. “…Give me one good reason...
2025-05-06 12:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post“…To the letter, Saphienne.” Almon tapped lightly on her head with his staff. “Not merely the letter: you must follow every instruction as you genuinely believe it is intended, as completely and utterly as you know how.”...
2025-05-01 12:00:19 +0000 UTC View PostWhereas Hyacinth had previously infused Saphienne with false calm, now the possessing spirit imparted rising panic — the snow that glittered above her field growing thicker on the stirring breeze. “The wizard must not determi...
2025-04-29 12:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone,
By now you may have noticed that paying patrons all have three new chapters to read today, instead of only one. That's because I've listened to my readers' feedback, and increased the read ahead of all tiers by two chapters.
Same price, no extra charge. Hope y...
2025-04-24 12:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostSaphienne had no doubt: she was in trouble.
She sat – now pretending to meditate – in the parlour with the two senior apprentices, thinking through the ramifications of what was unfolding. Almon had been instructed by th...
2025-04-24 11:41:05 +0000 UTC View PostFor the second time in the same day, Saphienne was woken by her window rattling.
She yawned as she sat up, ears sweeping down and not quite rising to their usual height in her tiredness. Her eyes were slow to focus in the da...
2025-04-24 11:40:50 +0000 UTC View PostWithout the stability that Hyacinth had provided, Saphienne immediately felt the tumultuous emotions within herself growing in passion and volume — anger and fear and fathomless grief surging through her veins. She cried quiet tears, tho...
2025-04-24 11:40:17 +0000 UTC View PostAt the boundary between Saphienne and the spirit, where Saphienne stood on the steps of her mind’s library and the spirit upon a field of flowers beneath flurrying snow, what had began as parlay became a confrontation.
... 2025-04-22 12:00:19 +0000 UTC View PostDespite the story of what had once been her favourite book, and despite the events that had soured her love for it, Saphienne had never actually seen the sea. When the spirit took her hand – grasping her fingers with cool petals – she lacked th...
2025-04-17 12:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostSaphienne knew she was dying.
The branches that skewered her in place prevented her from falling down, and the terrible pain of their slow writhing kept her from passing out. She could feel them growing, new tendrils budding of...
2025-04-15 12:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostYou see her more clearly, now.
Not all of her: much of Saphienne had not yet come to be as she stood by that window in Celaena’s sitting room, arguing with Iolas, and Faylar, and Laewyn. She had not yet learned to truly t...
2025-04-14 22:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe rain began again as they settled down to talk, drumming against the windows of Celaena’s sitting room in a cold, clear wash. Celaena mentioned she felt chilly — which prompted Laewyn to fuss over her, fetching a pair of thick sli...
2025-04-08 12:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post