AT Valentine

Chapter 121: Return of the Beetle

There was something particularly awkward about rendering a blood sample down to a single drop of blood while a dragoness inside a draconian body looked intently over my shoulder.

I wish I could have dazzled Shaessath with my alchemical skills, or at least contributed to the process significantly in some way. Instead, I was just standing there and keeping an eye on the reaction. My biggest contribution had been the purchase of the beetle in the first place.

I was thankful for Alys�...

Chapter 120: Grandmother

Shaessath was silent and contemplative as we made our way back. I said nothing out of a desire to avoid annoying her.

The source of that desire was something I was feeling a bit conflicted about.

Not too long ago, I would have put it down to nothing but fear, and continued happily with my day. Now, though, I couldn’t deny that a small part of me (or a not-so-small part of me) wanted to avoid annoying her because having her approval felt… nice.

I shook that off, ...

Chapter 119: Impressing the In-Laws

The day felt like it had been going on forever. Enough had definitely happened that I felt like I should look outside and see the last dying rays of the sun, if not outright darkness. I’d even broken out the wine already! Instead, the world was only just starting to get into the rhythm of a busy morning.

Thankfully, there were small morning chores to help me ground myself and calm my emotions a little. I insisted that Alys let me handle breakfast so she could catch up with her family....

POV Poll

Without further ado, here's the poll:

A Surprise Patreon Poll!

Had an idea recently, so here's me asking: Would you be interested in free ebook copies as part of sub benefits, at no additional cost or sub price increases of course. Will sort out how it will work as a perk later, but I want to know how you guys feel about the idea first! ^^

Extra Content POV

I think we can all agree that the different POV option won the poll pretty decisively! XD In honor of that, I'd like you all to comment WHICH POVs you'd like to see over in the Discord server, or here if you don't like using Discord so we can collect various options for a poll I'll run tomorrow to decide!

Direct Link:

Discord: https://disco...

Chapter 118: The Tale of Lianthorn Belladonna

How do you put into words a chaotic mess of emotions? Emotions which not only gave you an odd worldview, for a fae, but also drove you to flee from the only home you had ever known, at the risk of being hunted down and seen as a traitor to your Court and family?

I decided to start with the source of the whole mess.

“My parents are Feyrith and Mirathana Belladonna. They love each other, which, if you know anything about the Court and its Noble houses, you’ll note is… rare. Th...

Extra content poll and book launch!

With Discord recently launched, and Book 1 coming out today, in both ebook and paperback forms, I wanted to discuss some extra content, which will be coming out more regularly from this week onward, I hope!

Most pointedly, I want to know whether you'd prefer some good old lore, covering the v...

Chapter 117: Mere Mortal

“Dad!” Alys’ happy voice echoed through our home as she closed her arms around her father, pulling him into a hug that made the human grunt in surprise.

Seeing them together confirmed the suspicion I’d formed based on the wooden statues of Alys’ family: she was much closer in build to her father than her mother. For one thing, she was taller than her mother, who was surprisingly short for a draconian.

Not that Alys was tall enough to match her father, mind. The human was...

Discord!

As promised yesterday on RR, in honor of the Book 1 launch tomorrow, as well as because I love reading all the comments, the A.T.Valentine discord is now up and functional! I am looking forward to seeing you there, and what kind of theories and ideas you guys can come up with while reading! ^^

Here's the direct link to t...

Chapter 116: Wildefire Juice

“W-We should go meet them!” Alys stammered, finding her tongue before me.

Her grandmother’s lips twitched for a moment. Then she gave up control of her expression and let a true smile spread fully across her face. It was almost like the entire room had brightened, now that The Molten Expanse was no longer trying to project malice. Instead, she bathed the air in warmth.

“Why ever would we?” she replied to Alys’ blurted suggestion. “We still have time to chat, and your...

Chapter 115: Of All Things, a FAE?

“Ahem.”

The rumbling voice attempted to intrude on my dreams. I ignored it, warm and comfortable as I was. My brow furrowed a little, and I shifted, burrowing deeper into Aly’s embrace as her wings tightened around me.

“AHEM.”

“It’s still early, Alys,” I mumbled sleepily, knowing that my body would force me to wake up by habit around our normal time. Considering how languid I felt, it wasn’t close to that hour yet. “Can’t this wait?”

“Hrrrm?�...

Chapter 114: Belladonna Breeze

The wolfkin was rather excitable. She also possessed a healthy dose of Nasha’s manic energy. The deluge of information she was giving me about the flowers she’d brought was so overwhelming, it took me until flower number three to gather my thoughts and interrupt.

“That is a lovely flower.” I beamed, hoping she wouldn’t notice the expression was strained. “However, I was hoping to ask for your name before we continue?”

“OOH!” She flushed scarlet, fixing h...

Chapter 113: First (Dear) Customer

I drummed my fingers absently on the surface of my lab table, waiting to see what would come of my experiment as my thoughts kept drifting back to the previous evening.

In spite of the awkwardness provoked by poking at our pasts, everyone had pushed through and enjoyed themselves. We’d avoided the topic for the rest of the evening by discussing our current lives instead. It was fascinating to get a peek into the day-to-day existence of my friends, which I never would have gotten other...

Chapter 112: Perfumed Past

I could have deflected. None of those present were rude enough to push, save perhaps Ritsu, who might be inclined to poke at me subtly. (Though I could admit that expectation was likely born from my current prejudice concerning the fox.) No one in the room would have taken serious issue if I refused to engage.

However… I didn’t want to.

Wasn’t the whole point of the evening to improve? To help Alys and me combat our tendency to cut ourselves off from the rest of the town? Be...

Chapter 111: Be More Social

I liked everyone we had invited, with the possible exception of the fox. (For the time being, at least.) Normally, I was happy to spend time with them. I enjoyed it!

Yet knowing that the whole event was organized so Alys and I could ‘be more social’ just made me feel… awkward.

Was I supposed to do something special? Be more outgoing, somehow? I had no idea how to go about that. Furthermore, any past examples I had of similar events were useless. I didn’t think anyone would...

Chapter 110: Evening with Friends

I worked steadily for the rest of the day.

Once I finished my daily brewing duties, I extensively tested the properties of all the draconic materials in my possession. Whether I kept strictly to alchemy or tried to incorporate bits of other magical branches, I wanted to craft something new to help me purify Alys’ bloodline. For that, I needed to know everything I possibly could about what I had available.

There was also my project for Nelaeryn to keep in mind. I had to be extrem...

Chapter 109: Dragon’s Blood

“I have a potentially odd request,” I hedged the next morning after breakfast, putting my cup down on the table.

I had just finished my diluted torture juice. Alys, as always, was chugging the concentrated version directly from the jug.

Some days, I almost regretted making that concentrated juice. ‘Almost’ would be ‘definitely’ if not for the soft smiles that fluttered over my dragoness’s features every time she drank it, even when she was tired or grouchy.

Fin...

Chapter 108: A Flower for My Lady

I was about to pull the second flower box out of my storage bag and get to work when I changed my mind.

Though I had only one flower grafted at the moment, it looked so vibrant that I expected it to produce a few more flower stalks in short order. That would let me spread them around the clearing.

I had a better idea for what to do with the second flower.

So, instead of immediately heading off to find my dragoness, I went back to my laboratory. There sat the original flower,...

Alchemist of the Wilds pre-orders!

I can happily announce it is now possible to pre-order AW book 1! You can find the book's page here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GDH1KQ13

And it will be officially up for regular old purchase on the 14th! If that appeals to you, please check it out! ^^

Chapter 107: Manchineel Machinations

When I decided to grow the manchineel trees as a trap for the invading soldiers, I hadn’t expected them to turn into something so complicated. I’d even planned to get rid of them afterwards to eliminate the hazard they represented.

Yet there I was, standing in the middle of a clearing stripped of everything but the manchineels, intending to make long-term use of them.

Sighing, I looked around at the gnarled trees that had been twisted by my emotions. I had no idea why I kept b...

Happy New Year!

I hope this upcoming year is full of nothing but pleasant events and happy little accidents! Keep on keeping on, and of course, I hope I'll be able to continue writing content you like! ^^

Chapter 106: A Reasonable Overreaction

“You are overreacting,” Alys said bluntly.

“No. No, I am not! You can’t just dismiss powerful nature spirits, Alys. You were there with me. You saw it!”

“Yes, I did. And unless I’m remembering wrong, the spirit didn’t actually give you that flower. You found it after the spirit passed,” she pointed out reasonably, not even stopping her work.

Her hands steamed in the cold air as she ran them over the log she was preparing. A gust of wind whined through her o...

Chapter 105: Suspicious Gifts

The flower I’d gotten out of my encounter with the stag was undeniably beautiful.

Its stem and leaves were bright orange. Three separate flowers branched off to the side, a bit lower on the stem, with a central flower at the top. Each bloom consisted of an outer layer of long, brown petals, cradling an inner layer of shorter, yellow ones. The flowers reminded me of lotus blossoms, with better defined layers and slightly pointier petals.

When I first acquired the flower, I’d be...

Chapter 104: Blood and Basements

I was still thinking hard when we sat down to eat. In fact, I was stewing more thoroughly than one of the meals Arandel was so fond of feeding to Grafton.

How, exactly, does one bring up a delicate subject without provoking a negative reaction? Especially if the subject recently drove one’s wife to tears, despite her typical poise?

For all of my training and capacity for verbal trickery, I had no idea. Nothing my family had taught me had prepared me for being gentle when it came...

Chapter 103: Good Enough

I didn’t have to try too hard to ‘trick’ my dragoness into taking a nap. I knew she hadn’t slept well the day before. And while she could typically keep going for as long as I could without sleep, the tension wracking her mind had left her exhausted.

At some point during my storytelling, I shifted so my back was pressed against the wall. Alys slowly settled down until she was using my lap as a pillow. All I did then was run my hand gently up and down her back, drawing out a rhyt...

Chapter 102: A Perfectly Functional Chair

The manchineel trees in the other two locations had experienced the same changes. Glowing blue veins, the absence of dangerous poison on the surface, the intensifying of the poison within… everything. It was like something had reached out and altered the trees in ways that specifically appealed to it.

Likely because something had.

I wasn’t sure whether to be thankful or annoyed that I found no signs of the stag’s presence around the other two areas. On the one hand,...

Chapter 101: Expectations and Results [Start of Book 3]

Life, as it turns out, is always fond of surprising us. It delights in twisting our expectations into wholly unrecognizable results.

That was the only explanation for how I ended up happily married to a lovely, crimson-scaled dragoness within months of leaving my family’s estate. I even had people in my life whom I would consider actual friends!

I might have wished for something like that to happen when I made my escape from my Court, but I hadn’t expected it. I had e...

Chapter 100: The Home of Autumn [End of Book 2]

It was rather horrid luck that the day Alys and I took a step forward in our relationship also happened to be the day we received news of the Hergeiros invasion. Our preparations, the attack itself, and my ensuing revenge plan hadn’t left us much time for each other.

That’s probably why I spent the next several days doing the bare minimum of work, just enough to keep the town supplied, before going to bother Alys.

My dragoness indulged me. No matter how many work hours were le...

A Quick Holiday Notice

Tried to avoid it, but there's no two ways about it: I won't be able to maintain the normal posting schedule around the holidays. There's too much going on and too much stuff I need to do.

In light of that, from Monday 22nd of December, for two weeks, until the 5th of January, we'll be doing 3 chapters a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Chapters will be going up as normal this weekend!

I'm extremely sorry for this, but we'll be back to normal seven chapters a week afterwards! ...