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 grand dining hall. She found them eating toasted bread, fruit, and pastries together, and so joined the...
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 to be apart yet not alone as the terrible implications sank in. She was grateful to Celaena for som...
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 and ensure there would be no unexpected interruptions.
“Before we begin,” Almon told 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 storehouses she shut her eyes and swallowed, her face otherwise expressionless, which Celaena obviously no...
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 can probably guess, it's relevant to an upcoming chapter. Here's the section of Chapter 21 as it
Hello!
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 support someone but not have the means. My assumption is that people will always help what they love howev...
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 Celaena’s home. Since the key insights of the day were light on magical theory, Saphienne suggested they...
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 elf sat on the couch, clutching a glass in her right hand, while her left held a sheet of paper — tr...
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 master than intimidated by whatever it portended.
“I see your father has forewarned you, Iola...
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 friends sighed in relief; Iolas offered Saphienne a weary smile as his anxiety lifted. “So, he didn...
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 Taerelle, seeing no reason to worry him; and if the senior apprentice had betrayed her trust, Io...
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 immediately found an excuse to show her irritation.
Peacock squawked and beat his wings as she thre...
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, the scent of drying earth and springtime, floral fragrances more distinct than usual. She wasn’t ...
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, curiosity made her eyelids peel back. She was in a dark place, and could barely discern the horns of the wom...
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 honed angles of her body further emphasised when she slipped one arm loose from her robes to expose t...
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 she had adopted throughout the rest of the morning.
Her voice was calm and light when she aske...
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.
Me? No. I am but the story’s teller. What little authorship I have over her saga is apparen...
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 not to walk back up there, and tell our master that it really is your blood all over the ground. An...
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.”
Standing before her teacher at the bottom of the slope, Saphienne tried very hard to smother ...
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 determine that a spirit staged the scene!” Her tone grew worried. “Saphienne: you must be the ...
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 you enjoy!
If my number of patrons unexpectedly explodes within the next week, and the read-ahe...
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 the Luminary Vale to investigate the clearing where she had freed the apostate spirit. Assuming that t...
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 dawn light, and she wiped the sleep from them as she stumbled from bed and crossed over to her window,...
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, though they were not unnoticed by her friends, and Faylar took her arm and rubbed her upper back as he ...
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.
Saphienne narrowed her eyes. “You’re lying to me.”
No sooner had she made the accusat...
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 the experience of what Celaena had described, and so the sensation of the spirit entering her body and...
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 off to burrow beneath her traumatised skin — which had gone numb beneath her sweat. Every breath she...
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 temper her impulses, nor gained the wisdom to know what was achievable and what was folly. Her intell...
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 slippers and a thicker blanket from the bedroom before heading off to make warm tea. Swaddled in the bl...
2025-04-08 12:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post