Catching up with Cadlyr

I have gone back and offered what I hope is a little insight into the D’Vaire series up to the seventh book, so it was time I sat down and reflected on the eighth one. Disregarding Fate was one of those stories that took me by surprise. As I was writing Vengeance from the Dark, I found myself with an inevitable confrontation. I’d introduced the character of Cadlyr of the Cwylld in Sentinel’s Dagger, but I didn’t realize at the beginning that he was Talfryn’s brother.

His past came to me slowly as I unpeeled the layers of his personality and I learned a great deal about him. I don’t know where the idea of his mate came from, but I knew right away about his funeral pyre. When I finished Vengeance, I wasn’t still wasn’t sure if Cadlyr’s mate had truly died in that fire or if he had faked it all to avoid living with the Cwylld. I moved on to the next book but the idea of Cadlyr’s story wouldn’t leave me alone.

Time after time I worked through the possibilities and I became convinced that Cadlyr’s other half was definitely still alive. If he had died, it wouldn’t have been more than a pebble in the water of the almost two thousand years Cadlyr had already lived. What kind of impact would a man he met only once truly have on him even if they were mates? It was simply too interesting to explore the idea of them reuniting.

His mate Evlithar’s journey changed a great deal over the months I slowly plotted while I worked through books three through seven. If he was going to trick Cadlyr there needed to be a good damn reason and that little blue elf stole my heart as I created him. His family too morphed even as I finally got to work on Disregarding Fate and no one was more surprised by how things turned out then I was.

It was also a great deal of fun after writing so many books featuring fallen knights, sentinels, and necromancers to hang out with some elves again. I like the ability to step into the shoes of these different races with their unique customs and carve out their romances. And because of Evlithar and the Valzadari I’ve crafted some really fun tribes that he mentioned briefly to the D’Vaires that don’t yet belong to the Council. I was also moved to put together a book I would have never considered before I met the Valzadari rulers. I haven’t written it yet, but it is seriously not going away and I’m super excited to write it when I get to that number on the list.

I’m still between books though I have an outline at the ready. I hope to get the chance to start it soon but lately life has kept me rather busy and it unfortunately keeps getting pushed back which is annoying to say the least. I wanted to have it done before I left for Virginia for GRL in October but that is so not going to happen at this point!

Evlithar and Cadlyr didn’t turn out to have that long of a playlist but the one that I played over and over again was “Hello” by Adele. It just seemed to fit them so perfectly. The only other song that belongs to them is “No Son of Mine” by Genesis.