The Lusty Dark Elven Maid III: Stable Maid

Changes have come to Olvang Keep in Milenna's lustful absence amongst the guards. The hulking beasts of fur and fang are said to be more than appearance - capable of shifting to the forms of the Northland people, and rumour holds that Milenna has been given over to their newly discovered needs. Recovered from the garrisons below and cleaned up by the mysterious doppelganger responsible for aiding Milenna's journey down this path, that rumour may not remain false for very long.

Brought before the beasts in their high-barred Stable pens, the dark elf will feel something ancient and true tug at her desire, yet can the limber elf truly survive under such intimidating bestial power? In this final volume that brings closure to the story of the Lusty Dark Elven Maid, Milenna will be put to the test. From her courage and tenacity to simple desire, a new future may yet open for her elven kin and the Wolven shapeshifters alike with the penultimate destination in her journey.

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That's right, another final volume that took longer than was expected! This one didn't strike quite the same emotion as Huntsman, but that's always been the charm of having these two series run in tandem - Huntsman is much more grounded, while this one has been much more freely erotic and about hitting the fetishes. In their final volumes, they have both converged a bit into the other's style, but it's worked out perfectly.

As per the usual disclaimer, you don't need to read one side of this series to enjoy the other, they have both been written from their respective perspectives with the intent of making as much sense as is necessary in that perspective alone, something I always do, but for an avid reader that enjoys one, the story does expand in a way through the other with this dual series.

Now that I'm finally getting around to tying up some of my lose ends, I can say it's certainly been an interesting experiment. Whether I run another dual-titled series like this in the future will remain to be seen. Alternatives like Darkfallen to the Daemonique series are nice in that they are more wholly disconnected than to be running a parallel, so there's somewhat more freedom in that.

So, with that all said, the point of convergence for the Lusty Dark Elven Maid is particularly interesting, as it focuses around the revelation that has shaken the Keep, and culmination of what has called to Milenna Nightwhisper's wanderlust in a similar way to that which called to Katalyne Olvang from the wilds. How the Dark Elf interacts with these 'new' shapeshifters in the Wolven speaks subtle volumes of the world's history, and gives a little glimpse at what may be the future for all of them, just as the conclusion to Huntsman saw change and progress for its people.

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Huntsman III: King

All is quiet in Olvang Keep, yet the future of a kingdom may rest at the mercy of a vicious wilderness. The cards have long since been dealt, the actors all upon the stage, leaving the royal Huntsman with but a simple message. His beloved Princess has manipulated events from the very beginning to slip away into the wilds, and she fully expects him to hunt her down.

To discover what his Princess has heard whispered on the wind for so long and to finally understand his own bestial affinity to the wild, the Huntsman must leave Castle and Keep to chase a fading trail through the eternal night of the frigid Northlands, but he does not hunt alone. With companions that have seen him through thick and thin, the Huntsman rides to bear witness to the truths of Katalyne Olvang's path. What he makes of his Princess' cunning deception and the mysteries she has come to divine from the dark woods with her own hands in this final volume will be remembered as legends in time.

Let the hunt begin.

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That must be the longest synopsis I've done for some time, but it's necessary. This is the third and final chapter of the Huntsman series, and I'm not going to be as emotional now as I was in its author note section where I share some personal thoughts and feelings. I've had time to come down, but suffice to say it's been an emotional thing to work through, more than I'd expected it to be. 

So often I looked at things and thought "okay, just a couple scenes left, done in no time" and the power everything was building to just weighed down on me and really made those seemingly short distances a lot harder to get through. It also made them longer than I thought they'd be, so I think the moral is my estimates should never be believed.

And that's fine. While I would have liked to get it out faster - something you'll never not want, like a sort of recurring sum wish - there's a lot of feeling in it and it's really one of the first big points in the history of my world I've been able to really close up and mold into its own sort of legend. It may not seem all that much right now but its existence is already played on in other works and I have a big long timeline of how and where everything matches up. 

Not to come across as daunting, you don't need to see that world to enjoy Huntsman, or the Lusty Maid to come soon. It's always about creating a story here and now, and Huntsman is no exception. With that said it's funny how I'm finding it a little hard to actually talk about the content of the book for want of not spoiling the big shift in things, but practically speaking you can get hints of that from "also browsed/bought" and tags on the various storefronts.

So without going too much into it, shift is the operative word. The wolves out there are not quite just the wolves out there, and stuff will happen! Shifting, shapeshifting, werewolf, beast, monster or just paranormal, it's gotten a lot of names over time, but you know what it means, and it's good.

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