2. 𝕽𝖎𝖘𝖊 • BBC Merlin

𝔅𝔬𝔬𝔨 𝔗𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔢

Hello there, dear readers! 

I'm very excited to announce the name and release date for the third and final book in the 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕲𝖎𝖗𝖑 𝕺𝖚𝖙 𝕺𝖋 𝕿𝖎𝖒𝖊 series! Please give a warm welcome to...

𝖀𝖓𝖇𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖆𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙! 

It began publishing on 2 August 2024. And I hope you're happy to hear that it is being updated not once, not twice, but thrice a week! 

Yeah, that's right. You'll get three weekly doses of Astraea Aphelion's shenanigans in Camelot! These come every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday until it is done publishing :D

I'm honestly super proud of how 𝖀𝖓𝖇𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖆𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙 has turned out. The writing is some of the best I have done, Astra continues to be a super fun character to work with (and hopefully to read!), and the addition of the knights of the round table has made everything ten times as entertaining. At least in my very biased opinion – but I really hope that you will all think so, too! 

I must warn that, while I've continued to follow the plot of the original BBC Merlin series, this third book will see many more changes to the story than 𝕻𝖆𝖕𝖊𝖗 𝖂𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 or 𝕽𝖎𝖘𝖊 did. Mostly in light of the many questionable choices that the characters make at times, since I refuse to dumb down Astra to make the plot work. And, obviously, also due to the differences between Gwen and Arthur's relationship in the original story and Astra and Arthur's relationship in this one. I really hated how the writers of the series handled some things and I refuse to take the same trajectories. Fight me :) 

Obviously, I'm not going to spoil anything (especially when there are many fun surprises that I'm certain you'll all enjoy!), but I am curious to see what theories you guys can come up with in regards to what the future has in store for Astra and company. Feel free to comment as many ideas as you want! 

𝖀𝖓𝖇𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖆𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙 will be the longest book in the series – for better or worse. I haven't finished writing it yet, but it might end up being as long as 𝕻𝖆𝖕𝖊𝖗 𝖂𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 and 𝕽𝖎𝖘𝖊 put together... Whoops! 

(In fact, I think that the whole series could end up being the longest 'Arthur Pendragon x fem!OC' fanfic on Wattpad and AO3 – I'll be super proud of myself if that turns out to be the case, lol.)

Anyways. Without further ado, here's a little sneak peak of  𝖀𝖓𝖇𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖆𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙!

I started at a soft thud, which tore my concentration away from the paper airplane I was drawing on to make it look like a dragon. I lifted my eyes and found that Arthur's ink had spilled and was now ruining the letter he'd been halfway through writing. With a groan, he quickly set the small bottle upright; but the damage had been made and he leant back on his seat, huffing in frustration.

My brain debated whether to say something comforting or teasing. And I just couldn't help myself. "I keep telling ya', those things aren't practical at all," I noted with a small grin. He grunted and narrowed his eyes at me. "Want me to take over?" I then asked as I reached for his hand and began to play with his fingers.

"Darling, I love you, but your penmanship is awful," Arthur replied as he intertwined our fingers, ending my fiddling.

I snorted, "No argument there." He smiled a little. "I love you, too," I added with a sweet smile, and that caused him to smile entirely. I reached to poke the dimple that formed on the side of his mouth with my free hand, earning a playful eye-roll. Then, appearing reluctant, he let go of my hand so that he could get another piece of paper and start writing the letter all over again.

His struggles really made me miss e-mails. They would make his life just a little easier.

So would a pen he doesn't have to soak in ink every ten seconds.

"Here, use mine," I quickly said as I flicked my generic modern pen towards him, causing it to roll down the table until he grabbed it. "It'll make your job easier," I added with a wink.

Arthur smiled again and thanked me before getting to writing.

Now devoid of art as a way to entertain myself, I resorted to singing softly to myself as I twirled the cords of my baby blue hoodie around my fingers.

"Run, baby, run,

"Don't ever look back,

"They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance,

"Don't sell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be,

"Run, baby, run,

"Forever will be you and me–"

Sadly, I was interrupted by a knock on the door that caused Arthur to huff in frustration once more before he dropped the pen and leant back on his seat again, "Come in!"

In came Leon and Elyan, causing me to smile.

"Sire, Astra – we have an unexpected matter at hand," the curly blond began after sharing a hesitant look with Elyan. "It concerns you," he added, nodding towards me.

My eyes widened as a million catastrophic possibilities flooded my brain, most of which would probably land me at the stake if they turned out to be true.

The hurricane was abruptly stopped by Arthur grabbing my hand again, then he motioned for the knights to keep going. They shared another hesitant look.

"Bring him over!" Elyan called to someone in the corridor.

No amount of crazy speculation could've spit out what stood before my eyes, causing my jaw to drop and my lungs to cease to do their job for a second.

"O-Olly?!" I stuttered.

"Hey, Shootin' Star," the tan-skinned man greeted with a big grin.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you will enjoy 𝖀𝖓𝖇𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖆𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙 <3