When a fae’s magic comes in, usually around the age of fifteen or sixteen, something else happens as well.

They receive a bondmate.

A bondmate is an animal magically connected to a fae. The bond between them is far deeper than companionship. They work together, play together, and move through life connected in ways that affect them both physically and magically.

More Than an Animal Companion

A bondmate isn’t simply a beloved pet.

The bond allows the fae and animal to share energy and physical burdens.

In The Sheltering Vow, Darien’s bondmate is a black dog named Ted. When Darien is on the road and riding hard for days, Ted shares the load with him. Because of their bond, Darien doesn’t tire as quickly as he normally would.

But that energy doesn’t come from nowhere.

Ted gets tired, too.

The same thing happens when Darien uses his magic. Magic takes energy, and some of that toll passes through their bond to Ted.

It’s one of the things I love about bondmates. Magic in Velmarra has consequences, and the bond between a fae and their animal means neither of them carries those consequences entirely alone.

Just How Deep Does the Bond Go?

Sometimes, frighteningly deep.

In The Reformer’s Vow, Donavar’s bondmate is a raven.

Donavar lost an eye during battle.

His raven, Ash, is blind in one eye as well.

That physical connection gives you an idea of just how completely a bondmate can be tied to their fae. What happens to one can leave its mark on the other.

And What About the Mageless?

This is where Mae’s story becomes especially important.

Mae is mageless.

She never received magic, which also means she never received a bondmate.

In a world where the arrival of magic and a bondmate is a normal part of coming of age for the fae, Mae grew up without either.

And that absence is about more than not being able to perform magic. She also doesn’t have the constant connection and companionship that other fae take for granted.

The Bondmates of Velmarra

Bondmates give me another way to explore one of the ideas at the heart of Velmarra: magic always has a cost, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be carried alone.

Darien has Ted.

Donavar has Ash.

And as Velmarra grows, you’ll meet more fae and the animals bound to them, each with a connection all their own.

Because in Velmarra, sometimes the creature standing beside you isn’t merely your companion.

They’re carrying part of you with them.

I didn’t set out to create Velmarra.

In fact, The Sheltering Vow came to me almost by accident.

I was chatting with some author friends one day, and our conversation turned to our bestselling series and what we loved about them. At the time, my bestselling series as PJ Fiala was Lynyrd Station Protectors: Trafficking.

Then someone brought up the idea of writing fan fiction of our own stories.

Fan fiction of my own books?

Well, that was interesting.

And I knew almost immediately which series I’d choose.

What If I Took a Story I Loved and Added Magic?

I’ve wanted to write fantasy and paranormal romance almost from the beginning of my writing career. I’d thought about it plenty of times, but I’d always managed to talk myself out of actually doing it.

This conversation gave me a completely different way to think about it.

What if I took the heart of one of my own stories and reimagined it in a fantasy world?

My mind immediately went to Saving Shelby, the first book in my Lynyrd Station Protectors: Trafficking series.

And suddenly I could see it.

A mageless aunt is grieving the death of her sister. She knows something is terribly wrong, and she’s deeply afraid for her niece and nephew.

So she does the only thing she can think to do.

She steals them away.

She has very little money. She has no magic. Her heart is broken. She’s frightened. And she’s trying desperately to protect two children she loves from an evil she doesn’t fully understand.

That emotional foundation already had everything I love about telling a story.

Family. Danger. Love. Fear. Courage. Protection.

But then I added magic.

And everything changed.

Suddenly, There Was Velmarra

Once I began imagining that woman surrounded by magic she didn’t possess herself, the story started opening up in ways I hadn’t expected.

What did it mean to be mageless in a world where magic existed all around you?

How vulnerable would you feel?

How would power work in a society where some people possessed abilities others didn’t?

And what would happen when this frightened, grieving woman, who had already risked everything to protect two children, found herself caught in something much larger than she ever imagined?

That’s when writing it became so much fun.

I wasn’t simply changing names and adding a little magic to a story I’d already written. A new world was beginning to form around the emotional seed of an old one.

Velmarra was becoming real.

One Story Wasn’t Going to Be Enough

And then another thought hit me.

Why stop with one?

If The Sheltering Vow could grow from my own imagined fan fiction of Saving Shelby, what would happen if I did the same thing with the rest of the series?

Suddenly, I wasn’t thinking about writing one fantasy romance anymore.

I was building an entire series.

The stories could begin with emotional foundations I already loved, but magic, bond mates, new dangers, new characters, and an entirely different world could take them somewhere else.

That realization was incredibly freeing.

I’d spent years wanting to write fantasy and worrying about whether I could.

Apparently, I just needed to stop standing outside the door wondering what was on the other side.

I needed to open it.

The Beginning of Maeve Hart

That’s how The Sheltering Vow became more than a story.

It became my entrance into Velmarra.

And eventually, it became the beginning of Maeve Hart.

There’s still plenty of the storyteller I’ve always been in these books. I love suspense. I love danger. I love capable women and protective men. I love characters who have to fight for the people who matter to them.

That didn’t disappear when I started writing fantasy.

I just got to add magic.

And oh my goodness, has that been fun.

I sometimes wonder why it took me so long to finally write the stories I’d been thinking about for years.

But maybe I needed to write all those other books first.

Maybe I needed one particular conversation with author friends.

And maybe I needed to look at a story I already loved and ask:

What if there was magic?

That question opened the door to Velmarra.

And now that I’m here, I can’t wait to show you what’s waiting on the other side.

Come With Me to Velmarra

Maeve Hart is just beginning, and I’d love to have you along as I build this world. Join my newsletter for stories from behind the books, glimpses into Velmarra, book news, and a little magic delivered to your inbox.