#spyverse updates

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me when violet: she’s right and she should be allowed to do that

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Don't tease us like that Rosie! I'm so feral for those dragons! I want any chapter in any dragon pov.

Except for maybe dragon sex, I guess I'm not that feral lol. No judging though. But I'd rather read the resulting frisky riorgail

Too small for a one-shot? Make it a half a shot. Just post it here 😇😈

I will probably post it on ao3 eventually but I'd want to write it out a bit more (later, since I finally moved back to the main fic) and probably re-read both regular Threshing and Xaden POV for reference lol I had it all figured out in my head at the time but that was months ago

Here's a sneak peak of the first half (~1k words) because I'm excited to be writing again now that my wrist is feeling better!

Spoilers, obviously. I'll probably return to finish the second half of what I have written eventually since I only worked on this for like an hour! We haven't even gotten to the best part.

Tairn POV of Chapter 21 of life of spies or Threshing!

‘Come and stay with the golden one until Threshing is concluded,’ Sgaeyl demands. 

Tairn holds back a sound of complaint that will get him in trouble. ‘Why must I attend to her whims when you are already in the valley?’ he asks, even if he is already rising and preparing to take to the sky. He had stayed close, knowing that the young dragon is likely to push her luck after petitioning for the right to enter Threshing. 

Sgaeyl’s answer is more of a snarl than anything else, and Tairn admires the sound as he takes off. His mate is the most fierce she-dragon in the sky and he is in awe of her every day. Even if her taste in bonded ones leaves something to be desired. 

‘Because, my dear mate, I am limited by having a rider in the field and there are humans who would seek to harm her.’ 

Tairn growls and flies faster. ‘Who would dare?’

‘A weak human posturing during Presentation,’ she responds tartly. ‘She is flying in your direction.’

He sends a wave of agreement. Sgaeyl knows she doesn't have to ask Tairn to protect the young dragon they help care for. ‘While you complete patrols?’ 

Sgaeyl sighs tiredly. ‘While I deal with my bonded, who is turning out to be more emotional than expected. I fear he will not calm down until he sees a flash of silver in the skies.’

The black dragon huffs in amusement, having heard about his mate's recent struggles with her rider’s obsession. He uses his superior senses and spots a flash of gold in the distance as Andarna draws closer, nearer to the valley floor. 

‘Is the little human bothering you?’ Tairn attempts. ‘I will help rid you of him if you’d like.’

Happily. 

‘Tairn,’ she snips warningly. 

‘It was just an offer,’ he continues innocently, adjusting his path to meet the small dragon on the ground. 

‘One I will reject,’ she adds. ‘He is simply taken with a human girl. While pathetic, it could prove beneficial in the end.’ 

‘How?’ he asks in disbelief. 

Sgaeyl’s emotions are a flood of uncertainty and pride. ‘His chosen… she is interesting.’

‘An interesting human?’ 

A rare commodity, to be sure. None of the cadets who have crossed the parapet have called to Tairn in the years since the one who came before, and he doubts they ever will again. Not after all that he has lost. 

‘She spies on Navarre, though her motivations are unclear,’ Sgaeyl reminds him. That could be considered interesting. He has heard talk of the girl for years, when the elders predicted her rise as the next Head Scribe. How does a girl training to be a keeper of faulty history end up in this valley, spying on her home country?

Sgaeyl continues. ‘Her body may have been crafted weaker than most, but she does not balk in the face of a dragon.’ 

‘Is that all?’ Tairn asks quietly, sensing there was more to the story. False confidence fills cadets in droves, and many of them do not balk in the face of a dragon simply because they are too stupid or prideful. 

Sgaeyl is quiet for a moment. ‘During the Presentation, when one of the humans threatened Andarna, the silver one he’s obsessed with… she threatened his life for his transgressions.’ 

Tairn considers his words carefully. ‘Perhaps your rider is not useless, if he has chosen an honorable partner.’ 

His mate just scoffs. ‘Perhaps if they were not waiting to claim each other like foolish humans, he would be more bearable. We could not have made it simpler for him.’ 

‘The offer still stands,’ he chuffs in amusement at the reminder, feeling Sgaeyl’s answering wave of annoyance before she retreats from the bond.

Tairn lands by Andarna where she had settled to drink from a lake and greets the small dragon with a press of his wing.

‘I do not need you to watch me,’ she complains fiercely. ‘I am not a hatchling!’ 

The larger dragon pushes back his inconvenient feelings of affection towards the golden feathertail. Ever since the orphaned dragon had forced herself onto him when she was a hatchling, he had become protective of her. She may not have come from his line, but she is still his. 

‘I am not watching you,’ Tairn argues. ‘I am watching everyone else.’

He knows better than most that it’s foolish to trust a human.

Andarna sighs with the weight much larger than her mere four years. ‘Fine, but you must follow me,’ she says, voice dripping in her typical impertinence, and guides him towards a nearby cave entrance. 

‘You said you wanted to watch the proceedings,’ he reminds her. Andarna sends him a wave of annoyance that feels far too much like a human eye roll. He mourns her lack of respect, even as he has no plans to do anything about it. The golden one merely must become a strong enough dragon to justify her impudent and unruly disposition.

Tairn, child of Murtcuideam and Fiaclanfuil and descended from the cunning Dubhmadinn line, follows the small dragon as instructed. 

‘We are going where we must be,’ she says stubbornly and gallops ahead into the dark cavernous space. Tairn sighs tiredly, ducking down to fit through the entrance and following Andarna deeper inside. 

‘We must be in a dark cave with stale air?’ 

Andarna turns to look out into the woods through the cave entrance. Dragons, with their superior senses, can see easily through the trees and shrubbery and they can discern the presence of two pairs of footsteps running in this direction.

An approaching flash of silver through the greenery captures Tairn’s attention and holds it. 

‘Yes,’ Andarna answers. ‘This is exactly where we must be.’

Tairn looks down at the feathertail suspiciously. He is a wise and seasoned war dragon, but even he cannot tell of the future. 

‘And you are… certain about that?’ 

‘I am,’ she answers decisively. ‘Let us retreat into the cave.’ 

Tairn glances at the flash of such an unusual color, belonging to a girl who is so clearly running for her life. ‘Is this about the silver one that Sgaeyl speaks of?’ 

‘Let us retreat into the cave,’ she repeats. ‘Be patient and you will come to see what I see.’

Tairn sends a warning to his mate as he listens yet again, but not before snapping his teeth at Andarna warningly for having the nerve to accuse him of impatience. 

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After a few productive days in a row and several “phone-a-friend”s… I finally finished drafting the final battle of spyverse. 🥺

This means the next three chapters are ready for edits and fine-tuning!

I haven’t been this ahead of the draft since Montserrat. So excited to work on edits and officially piece together the Aretia chapters 💛

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reactions to my spyverse fourth wing oc

chapter 5: aw he's kind of cute chapter 10: can we keep him? chapter 11-59: baby! violet's tall son actually! if he dies, i swear [insert threat here] chapter 60: he is the chosen one and he will save the day

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How many povs are you going to write for part ii? I think I saw you mentioned also doing Liam and Sloane. What about Xaden? Or are you going to write a separate fic for Xaden's pov as well?

I haven’t decided yet! Part I is all Violet from beginning to end, and I always knew I was going to open it up more for Part II. It was initially just going to be Violet and a few Liam chapters, but when I started planning out Sloane’s arc, I realized that she needed to be a POV character too. I haven’t totally decided on what to do with Xaden POV yet. He’s definitely not getting a whole fic for Part II (just because it’ll stress me out) so he’ll either get a few POV chapters in Part II or some one-shots.

It might be weird, but I’m oddly conflicted about opening up the main story to different POVs. It’s just been so long in Violet’s head! But I do appreciate that it’s pretty symbolic considering the irony of the title in Part I and how Violet’s journey of self-discovery was also about trust and opening herself up to others. Now that she is so changed by the events of year one, it’s time to shift the direction a bit. I may even include a few surprise chapters from unexpected POV characters here and there, depending on how things work out. I tend to just let the characters loose on the page and see what happens.

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In case I was too vague before, the second in the letters series between Xaden and Brennan is coming and it is coming soon! It’ll cover until late June before Reunification Day (because they leave right after that) so I’ll probably post it before the next main fic chapter!

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What's your plan for the future? Are you also going to write five major parts like the book series? Or maybe just want to end it at part ii?

hahaha that is a big question! Part of me wants to jump the gun and say “oh I’ll write for part iii for sure” (just because I have a lot of ideas centered around the Isles) but the truth is that I don’t know. I didn’t decide to do a part ii until I had finished Onyx Storm and I felt like I had enough to fill the story of Iron Flame (with my spyverse twists) in a satisfying way. If I do write a part iii, it will most likely be after book 4 is released, to give myself more lore and canon events to work from.

I don’t think I’ll end it at part ii, but ask me again when that one is like half-done 😂

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Spoiler alert!!!

Welcome to Aretia ahhhhhhhhh I'm so excited.

I'm all here for feral Violet and her putting the Assembly in their place. You go girl!!!

Do you potentially, maybe, possibly, already have a snippet to share with us of possesive-anxious-crazed Violet? 👀

Welcome to Aretia! I am so excited to Spyverse to enter the next, and final, arc in part i 💜

Feral Violet is my absolute favorite thing to write, and you all haven't seen anything yet!

Snippet under the cut, just because you asked 🥰

Chapter 70 Snippet

Xaden Riorson has to survive. He has to—I'm not giving him another choice.

"What happened, Violet?" Brennan asks urgently the minute my feet hit the ground. I land on my unhurt ankle and hide my flinch when I take a step forward. Everyone needs to focus on Xaden right now.

The pain clouds my despair and I'm able to wrestle back a fresh wave of tears, while the other two men carefully lower Xaden's body from Tairn's back.

"I told you he was poisoned," I snap, arms hovering outstretched as if I can soften the blow of the ground as he touches down. This is all my fucking fault. "Probably overused his signet too."

"Garrick says you all flew into battle at Resson," Brennan continues. In my periphery, I can see the way his eyes linger on my face instead of where they should be. "Why the fuck would Xaden bring a first-year outside of the wards?"

I whirl around with anger and the clouds above us spark in response—control non-existent. "If you need to know, I was the one with orders to fly to Athebyne and Xaden was on that field for me," I growl, lips draw into a sneer with my next words. "But considering you don't think I need to know anything, I couldn't give less of a fuck about answering your questions while Xaden is hurt."

Brennan flinches back, mouth opening and closing without saying a single word.

That fucking figures. It's Brennan's favorite move. Inaction disguised as strategy.

"Now," I tell him slowly, glancing at Garrick and the man supporting Xaden's body from the corner of my eye. "Are you going to mend him, or am I going to have to ask a little less fucking nicely?"

My brother stares at me for a long time like he doesn't recognize the girl he left behind.

Well, the feeling is fucking mutual, Bren.