Jaron:

Jaron: I don’t hold a grudge. I cradle it. I coddle it. I feed it fine cuts of meat and send it to the best schools. I nurture my grudges, Roden.

I love that it's directed at Roden

tsc felt like a fever dream

Yeah it kinda did

In celebration for the release of the new tas book, I present to you the meme that lived in my head while I read TSC:

I'm pretty sure 3 or 4 different people said to him "you're alive???" in one chapter. So this literally couldn't be more accurate

Ikr

I finished the shattered castle.

And I am crying.

No seriously, there are existing tears on my cheeks right now.

They're real for this book.

Can someone DM me and just talk to me please?? About tsc?? I'm begging please please please please please please 🙏🙏🙏

I JUST FINISHED IT, TOO!!!!

I'm still kinda processing it to sone degree. But if you still need someone to talk to about it, I'd be happy to!! (No pressure though)

The King, The Captain and The Regent

RELEASE DAY FOR THE FINAL ASCENDANCE SERIES NOVEL - THE SHATTERED CASTLE! 

I am celebrating by posting this piece that took me like 1897498 hours to complete. Enjoy! 

(If I made prints would you buy? jus curious)

Not gonna lie this made me tear up😩✊ It’s just so beautiful

Gorgeous

I don't think anyone knew but Roden's lover is himself 😌

Soren-haired single Roden my beloved

Ascendance Month - Day 14

Theme: Cooking/baking

•••••

🌹 Cooking up a plan 🌹

“Tobias. Please,” I scoffed. “I’m one pinch of sugar away from becoming a gourmet chef.”

He crossed his arms. “No. What you are is one pinch away from food poisoning.”

Imogen was reading a book in the corner of the library with Amarinda, but now she just listened with an amused smile. I hoped it wasn’t at my expense.

I rolled my eyes, “You can’t get food poisoning from a bunch of flour, milk and sugar.”

“You could actually.” Clearly, Imogen was done with just listening.

I shot her a playful glare. Her smile only widened, creasing in the corners of her eyes.

“Well, not when I cook it.”

Obviously, I couldn’t cook to save my life. Or anyone’s life for that matter. It was not so much my lack of understanding of cooking, but rather, my cursed practice of it. If I were held hostage and forced to cook as ransom, I’d certainly die. And not because the food would be foul enough to inspire an immediate execution of myself, but because I would likely set myself on fire trying to bake something even half-decent in an oven.

Tobias didn’t have to know that though. I was having far too much fun.

Then there were the months I had spent glued to Imogen’s side. Not only had she shown me a few baking tricks, but I’d learned to read her expressions and she had learned to read mine. And right now, it was clear that she was both aware of my silent scheming and willing to fulfil her key part in the joke that was already in motion.

“Jaron,” Tobias spoke evenly. As if that would somehow knock sense into me. “You can eat… plenty. But you can’t cook. Kings don’t cook. The only time you ever enter the kitchen is when you feel like verbally abusing your chefs.”

There was my opening. One he unknowingly created. “I’d cook better than you.”

Roden entered with a laugh, “Well this I’ve got to see.”

I raised my eyebrows in a challenge. Their doubt in me was the very reason that my victory would taste so sweet.

Tobias threw his hands up. “Ok. Fine. But Imogen can’t make it for you or talk about cooking to you.”

“What, why?” The faked, defeated frown seemed to convince them that Imogen was my secret to success. Well, technically she was. Just not in the way they’d thought.

“You really think I’d give you that advantage?”

Mustering the pettiest expression known to man, I mumbled, “Well I am King, so...”

“And as the self-nominated judge of this stupid competition, I say that neither of you can talk to Imogen or the chefs about cooking,” Roden’s gaze moved to Tobias, “Or read any cooking books.”

My opponent cursed under his breath but agreed to the terms. As did I, with feigned reluctance. And just like that, Imogen had no way of helping me. Or so they thought.

•••••

“Not as easy as you thought, eh Jaron?”

“Shut up, Tobias, I can see you struggling too.”

There was a short-lived pause. “Is that sweat?”

“Shut up, Roden,” Tobias snapped. “Kneading this isn’t as easy as it looks.”

I sneered, “Maybe with your thin arms, it isn’t.”

“My apologies, Highness. Not everyone swings swords around for a living.”

I grinned at him and he laughed.

We had agreed to make sweet bread. Which I knew nothing about. The kitchen staff were finished for the day and so the space was empty. Roden hovered around the large table where we were working, both on our separate ends. Even if my plan failed, at least I was having fun. But the plan wasn’t going to fail. Because my victory was just outside the door. I could hear her footsteps approaching and tried to look somewhat confident in my own abilities to impress her a bit. Imogen had taught me a few things before but they weren’t going to give me the power and knowledge to make the delicious treat she sometimes made for me.

Tobias chucked, slightly manically, as she entered, “Ah no. No, no, no. You can’t make it for him.”

“I wasn’t going to, I just wanted to say goodbye.” She walked to me sweetly as Amarinda went to Tobias.

“Where are you going, my love?” I tipped over and pressed my lips against hers. Sighing at the sensation, and allowing her to straighten up my vest with her hand. She pulled away too quickly for my liking. But I’d get more kisses out of her later in the privacy of our chambers. I smiled at the thought.

“We are just going to go into the town, ok?”

I nodded, “Just be careful.”

“And probably don’t eat anything that could make you nauseous given that Jaron’s concoction will probably kill us all.” Tobias remarked.

Imogen turned back to me, “You’ll make me proud. Isnt that right?”

“I’ll try to.”

“What are we competing for, by the way?” Tobias interrupted.

“Don’t you mean…‘what are the steaks?’.” I snorted and Tobias groaned. Imogen’s routine eye-roll wasn’t missed either. But I added that the winnings should be decided upon later, and surprisingly, Tobias agreed. He really shouldn’t have.

Imogen and Amarinda bid both Tobias and I good luck and headed off. Promising to be back in time for the tasting.

And the bake-off proceeded as before. Tobias and I were cursing our way through the kitchen. But when the time was right and Tobias and Roden were deep in conversation, I reached into the hidden compartment of my vest to read the recipe that Imogen had planted while she was adjusting it.

Jaron Artolius Eckbert,

I hope you are ashamed of yourself and the unethical position your scheming has put me in. I’m writing this with full expectations that you’ll make up for my guilty conscience in whichever way I see fit.

I glanced up to make sure Tobias and Roden were still distracted. My cheeks were hot and I bit my lip to hide a smirk that threatened to appear on my face and stay there.

If, despite this e x t e n s i v e recipe, you still manage make something disgusting, there will be ramifications. And yes, you should be worried.

At my loud snort, Tobias and Roden fell silent. I quickly hid the note in my sleeve as they turned their attention to me. In their defence, I did sound a bit unhinged. Soon though, they lost interest and I used the opportunity to study Imogen’s recipe closely. Committing every measurement, every instruction and every detail to my memory. At the end of the note, Imogen wrote one more thing.

That’s all, I think. Amarinda hopes we can pull this off. Please don’t do anything stupid. The larger knives are for cutting meat NOT bread. Please don’t injure yourself. And good luck. I love you very, very much.

Then, with a cheshire grin, I got back to work. And I knew that this was going to be great.

•••••

“You did not cook that.”

The disbelief was more potent than my laughter. “You were there. You saw my every move.”

“Jaron this tastes amazing. How did you even think of this recipe?” Imogen’s conspiring smirk matched my own.

I pulled her closer and leaned in. “I was thinking of you and voila! It just came to me.”

She giggled and took another bite.

Tobias stood completely shell-shocked. His mouth wide open and suspicion rolling off him in waves. My sweet bread turned out better than I had hoped and expected. Even Imogen, who provided the recipe, was surprised when she saw it. Tobias’ bread however, was not so great. I’ll give him credit for baking it through properly, according to Imogen. But it fell apart, tasted bland and half of it was charred. Needless to say, when I pulled this masterpiece out of the oven, Tobias almost dropped his entirely.

“So,” I interrupted Tobias’ spiralling before he could work out my deception, “I wish to claim my prize.”

His grumbled response was riddled with defeat. “Well it’s only fair.” I almost took pity on him. Almost.

“Lovely. Imogen and I want to have a few days to ourselves. Maybe on the shore of the Eranbole, maybe in the forest. And I need someone to temporarily stand in for me.”

“We’ve been through this. I’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like to be you once before. And it’s the last thing I will ever do again.”

I raised an eyebrow. He did technically lose after all.

Tobias groaned, “Fine. Ok. You won.”

“Good,” beaming widely, I clapped him on the back and whispered, “And don’t beat yourself up. After all, not everyone has mastered the art of exchanging notes in plain sight.”

It took him a few moments to comprehend what I meant. And when he finally did, he looked murderously at me and hissed, “I knew it.”

Imogen and I grinned at each other but couldn’t bask in our victory just yet.

“That means the deal is off. You cheated.”

“Well actually, the only rules were that Imogen couldn’t make it for either of us and that we couldn’t read books about baking. But notes with recipes written on them weren’t addressed by the judge so I still won.”

Roden gave a guilty look to Tobias and fled.

“Victory through deceit isn’t a fair win,” Tobias added.

But to no avail. “The goal was just to win, not to win fairly.”

He cursed, took the remainder of my bread and shoved it in his mouth, all while glaring at me. But it seemed that he yielded, however unorthodox my methods were.

He may have not liked the outcome of this, but unbeknownst to him, Imogen and I were actually asked by Amarinda to help prepare a surprise for him that would change his life. So really, the ends justified the means.

Besides, how could I have refused a small break from the castle that would, if anything, be more time I got to spend alone with the love of my life.

The end.

That is my favorite fanfiction oh my god I love this entry