Yep - we're getting close. Just wrote the last sentence of my epilogue and now I'm on to formatting.
Several people have asked when the next installment of Curse of Royalty. now I'm so close that I can start planning the release. I'm about to break out the chocolate cake and fireworks. Can't wait to shove this thing out of the nest but I don't want it to be half baked either. Once it's out there, it's out there forever.
Thoughts on these cover mockups? Are they eye-catching? Legible? I'll re-cover the first one and then choose one of these or something that feels like one of these for the physical book that, unless it turns out to be 400+ pages, will have all three volumes included.
I hope each of you will forgive me for the delay. I didn't want to lose any readers with the semi-cliffhanger ending of book 2 by it being another year before I could release book 3.
In the meantime - here's the new opening scene from the second book :)
From a bare hill in southern Drayden, Queen Peydra surveyed a smudged landscape that seemed to smolder to the horizon. Smoke still snaked skyward from blackened trees. Their stripped trunks jutting awkwardly from barren ground like spears marking a battlefield. A carrion bird circled near the foot of Raven’s Mountain as villagers combed through what was left of their homes and shops. Unbelieving, Peydra turned from the scene. It seemed that wind from the grasslands had blown the wildfire into the Scorpion Desert whose dunes and sandstone caves shimmered on the far western horizon.
From the corner of an eye, she noticed a concerned look on Anthony’s face while he too took in the extensive destruction. Together, they watched Commander Gaius and the troops move among the people, helping to keep peace, bury victims, making plans to rebuild while the palace administrator, Justus, organized and provided for immediate needs from stores of things he had managed to gather when the queen insisted they leave the palace earlier that week.
In the nine years since she had lost her mother and shouldered the weight of the crown, Draye marauders had set several fires as they raided villages along the southern border of Drayden, but none of those fires had caused such widespread damage as what she found before her that afternoon. She gripped a fistful of fabric at her side. It seemed despite the hundreds of soldiers Commander Gaius commissioned to patrol and protect along Drayden’s border with Hillat, the villagers still suffered from periodic raids.
After the hurried journey, Peydra had been surprised to find the Hillatite emissary already moving among rubble, his copper hair a vibrant spot of color in the darkened landscape. The man disengaged himself to approach as soon as he noticed her. While he spoke plainly with her about King Tal’s concerns, she held her tongue. He relayed the king’s offer to send laborers to help rebuild and a profuse apology that they had been unable to route the villains before they set the fire.
“I understand. I’m sure your army has been preoccupied with the peasant revolts near the coast. Have those eased any since we last spoke?”
“We are making progress, but it may take another six months to clear everything up and even then, we still find small pockets of people who don’t know that the revolt is over.” He scratched behind his ear leaving a smudge of black on his neck. “King Tal has mentioned that he’s also willing to send some men to clean out the raider dens and camps like we did three years ago.”
Peydra looked past the man. Was there truly anything that could have prevented the blackened structures, the charred carcasses, the ruined winter food stores? The raiders must have also been hungry after the severe regional drought of the last year. She saw evidence of a merciful weather change, but it felt like too little. “Please thank him for me, but I believe our marauders will have moved camp after this disaster and won’t be as easy to find. Besides, it might be time for us to consider a different course of action.”
The emissary pulled at his chin whiskers in a thoughtful way but didn’t offer another comment so she extended her hand. “Thank you for coming.”
He kissed her ring and went back to what he had been doing among the villagers.
Wind shifted, bringing unpleasant smells and drifting ash. She lifted a sachet to her nostrils while her eyes followed a small child who pushed through a pile of charcoal at the corner of what must have been a home. The child sneezed, wiped his nose with the back of a wrist to leave a prominent mark. Not two seconds later, the child pulled something from the pile, and after examining it, hugged it close.
Can't wait to share the rest of the story with you!
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