End of April Update (Patreon)

Hey, everyone. Just giving you a quick update on where things stand.

WSQ 3 is in the final stages of drafting (next few days) and will move into the editing phase. I was going to assemble a preview for the end of the month here, but since it is this close to being done, I think it's probably just easier to give you the whole thing when it's ready. Though I will put the prologue here in this post. :)

Otherwise, paperbacks are on the way! I have two art projects out that are both a little behind, so hopefully I'll have info on those soon. 

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Prologue

The Matron Mother’s words echoed off the walls of the ritual chamber, gaining strength with each reverberation. Varassa’s dark canticle swelled, entreating the Spider Queen to send more of her divine might through the walls of the Pale. Her loyal priestesses remained starved of power; even the precious few who could still channel the Aether were weaker than ever before.

It was infuriating. After centuries of failed offensives and missed opportunities, the dark elves of Vel’shannar had finally emerged from the Underworld and begun their conquest of the surface. They had captured the wretched rivvil city of Highwind and crushed the hated Knights of the Silver Fist, but the Matron Mother’s armies were now stalled. They would never be able to expand their reach to the coast—or to the highborn kingdom of Nelu’Thalas—without the wrath and fury of the Dark Goddess at their side.

But just like the last ten times Varassa had spoken the incantation, her pleas were met only by silence. The Zhennu Lassrin had weakened the Spider Queen far more than any of the rivvin realized. Without the divine vessel, Sehris, Varassa had no way of increasing her power, let alone breaching the Pale and freeing the goddess from her ancient prison.

“Ilhari vlos!” Varassa spat as she sank back onto her haunches. “Cha’kohk nindol myar k’lar!”

She sighed and closed her eyes. She had performed the ritual flawlessly. She was naked on her knees at the center of the circular chamber, her sleek stomach and high breasts splattered with the still-warm blood and seed of the male soldier she had sacrificed upon the lone altar behind her. The rune-covered floor thrummed with Aetheric energy from the vatari dust sprinkled across the stones, every gracefully curving symbol charged and brimming with power.

It should have worked. She had felt the barrier between the physical world and the Pale weaken with each of her incantations. Varassa hadn’t truly expected the Spider Queen to burst free so easily; she hadn’t even expected to call forth a demon.

What she had expected was to feel something—anything—that would let her know how much the Dark Goddess appreciated the service of her high priestess. Sehris remained in peril, stolen away by her treacherous sister, and Varassa couldn’t retrieve her without aid. If the child truly was the key to unlocking the Spider Queen’s ancient prison, how could the goddess remain silent? Surely she had something left to give her most loyal follower…

“Perhaps we have displeased her somehow, mistress.”

Varassa’s eyes snapped open, and she turned her head and scowled at the naked niskaru girl lurking near the altar. Solemi’s lips and chin were still wet with the seed she had extracted from the male soldier before the sacrificial dagger had been plunged into his heart, and some of his blood was spattered across her tits as well.

“You dare interrupt the ritual?” Varassa snarled. “I never gave you permission to speak!”

“My apologies, mistress,” Solemi said, lowering her head and dropping to her knees. “I only wish to help.”

The Matron Mother glared at the silver hair of her Throne Maiden. For a fleeting, furious instant, she considered sacrificing the niskaru cunt as well. Sadly, her mongrel blood would probably only enrage the Spider Queen further…

Hissing, Varassa stood and glowered at the glowing runic circle surrounding her. Not so long ago, her Throne Maiden had been the only one in all of Vel’shannar she had allowed herself to trust. The girl had been so loyal, so eager-to-please…

But Laetharys’s betrayal had opened Varassa’s eyes to the truth. Now, she couldn’t help but see rivals in every shadow and treachery in every smile. She never should have let her guard down despite her triumphs over the rivvin. If anything, that was the reason for the Spider Queen’s silence. Khaless zhah whol lil waela lueth lil elghinyrr.

Trust was for the foolish—and the dead.

All Varassa could do now was wait for General Nym to return. If he and the broken highborn ranger couldn’t find Laetharys soon, the empire they had fought so hard to build would wither before it could bloom. Even now, Varassa heard whispers of treachery brewing in the shadows of Vel’shannar. Without more priestesses to enforce order, the males might eventually find the strength to once again rebel, just as they had in the aftermath of the Zhennu Lassrin…

“Two days,” Varassa whispered, hissing softly as she rose to her feet. “Two days and still nothing. This delay is intolerable.”

“The Duskwood is vast, mistress,” Solemi said. “Even the highborn ranger will need time to locate your sister.”

The Matron Mother snorted as she pivoted back around to sneer at her kneeling supplicant. “I’m surprised to hear you defend her. If she were here right now, you would have gladly offered her up as another sacrifice.”

“I only meant to suggest that you should not lose hope, mistress. General Nym will not fail you.”

The girl looked up and licked a glob of cooling seed from her lip as if she had only just remembered it was there. Her skills as a Throne Maiden were undeniable. Varassa had never owned a slave who could bind a male to an altar, inform him that he was about to be sacrificed, then still bring him to climax while Varassa held a ritual dagger over his heart. And yet despite the blood on her skin, the girl still looked so innocent, so delicate, it was as if she had just been captured from the surface.

But Varassa had finally begun to see the truth. There was a hidden cunning behind the niskaru’s eyes—a dark desire for power she hadn’t noticed before.

“I’m sure you don’t mind if he takes his time,” Varassa said. “You probably relish the thought of him enjoying the highborn’s body, don’t you?”

“Only if it motivates him to recover the vessel,” Solemi insisted. “The highborn is expendable—your child is not.”

Varassa snorted again as she sauntered forward and loomed over her kneeling pet. “I think you’re still bitter about her. You don’t enjoy having to compete for my attention.”

“Competition is life, mistress. Conflict is strength; complacency is death.”

Varassa held her gaze for a long moment. “You have learned your lessons well, my little niskaru cunt,” she said. “Perhaps too well.”

The girl frowned. “Mistress?”

“Always remember that no one is irreplaceable, slaves most of all. I would happily sacrifice you right now if I thought it would deliver me even a single spark of power.”

She stared down at her Throne Maiden as if weighing her fate, drinking in the sight of her. Solemi really was quite lovely, especially for a mongrel. The fine bones of her face were a striking combination of her human and darthiir heritage. She had piercing emerald eyes, smooth ivory skin, and soft, curved lips that were as blissful to kiss as they were to fuck.

It was tempting to order her to clean off her mistress with her tongue, blood and all—anything to pass this time more quickly. Varassa had even considered ordering the alchemists to concoct another fertility salve. If she was going to breed her Throne Maidens, there was little reason to wait. The sooner they produced sorcerous daughters for her, the better.

“Clean this up,” Varassa said, gesturing to the corpse atop the blood-covered altar. “And don’t take too long. Archmage Golerys has requested your presence in the Spire of Sorcery. I want you to ensure they are making progress with their research. Without my priestesses to monitor them, I fear they may become complacent…or rebellious. They are males, after all.”

“I will deliver your message, Matron Mother,” Solemi said. “And I will inform him of the consequences if he fails.”

“Be sure that you do.”

Varassa held her gaze on the girl for another few seconds, then turned and strode out of the chamber, entering the long, winding stairwell leading down into the rest of the tower. The Highwind Academy had once been a center of learning for the so-called “wizards” of the surface, but they, like the Knights of the Silver Fist, had been crippled and ultimately destroyed by the Zhennu Lassrin. Sorcery was the only power left in its wake, and both of Varassa’s Throne Maidens carried that ancient power in their blood. Breeding them could be vital to her future plans.

But even if they were fertile enough to bear her twins or triplets, such children were decades away from being of any use to her. For now, Varassa would have to rely upon Golerys and the other male sorcerers to provide magical support.

Until Nym recovered Sehris, everything was at risk—her empire, her throne, perhaps even her very life.

Worry is a vice of the weak. The Spider Queen will not allow her most loyal servant to perish. Not now, not after I have accomplished so much with so little. I am the Matron Mother of Vel’shannar. My will is the destiny of lesser creatures.

Smiling, Varassa dragged her gray fingertips over the blood smeared across her ample breasts. She would prevail. She always did. It was simply a matter of faith and patience.

“I place my fate in your hands,” she whispered as she rubbed the blood between her fingers. “Glory to the Spider Queen.”