I’m pretty sure half of you are going to skip this and go straight to THE TRAITOR QUEEN, but in the spirit of this being a discussion about THE BRIDGE KINGDOM, I’m going to write some stuff anyway. So before you go to the beginning, let’s talk endings. Specifically, let’s talk CLIFFHANGERS!

I love cliffhangers. I really, really love them. Other than readers falling in love with the characters/plot/world, they are the best way to maintain enthusiasm for sequels, because people really want to know what happens. Of course there are readers who hate them with a fiery passion, and will either wait for the series to be complete or, if they accidentally read a book with a cliffhanger ending, with go burn said book in a trash barrel and then leave a lovely 1 star review on every platform warning their fellow cliffhanger haters. But I digress.

Now as much as I love a good cliffhanger, I also have really strong opinions about their execution. Whether we are talking duologies, trilogies, or series, each individual novel must have resolution to at least one major plot arc by the ending or readers will be left feeling unsatisfied—as though they spent all this time reading and got no payoff. This means, in my opinion, that an author shouldn’t withhold the resolution of a novel’s conflict just to create a cliffhanger that will entice readers to purchase the next book. Instead, the cliffhanger should be an exciting/enticing piece that comes after the plot arc resolution the introduces what will be a central focus of the subsequent novel.

To use THE BRIDGE KINGDOM as an example, the central plot is that Lara has been sent to infiltrate Ithicana in order to create a strategy her father can use to invade and capture the bridge. Now I could have ended the novel with Lara turning to find Aren on his knees, Marylyn with her knife at his throat saying, “Hello, little sister.” That would have been a serious cliffhanger, but also a poorly executed one, because it would mean absolutely nothing was accomplished by the end of the novel. So instead I saw the invasion—and the central plot arc of TBK—through to fruition, meaning that something significant was accomplished, even if Lara wasn’t too happy about it.

The cliffhanger comes by way of me introducing what will be a central plot of THE TRAITOR QUEEN, which is Lara’s intention to liberate Aren and have her revenge on her father. Because of her tenuous position with the Ithicanians, it’s a tense spot I leave her in, but readers are left clamouring for the beginning of the next novel rather than clamouring for the ending that was denied them.

And on that note, here is a tiny taste of what you’re in for with THE TRAITOR QUEEN.

THE TRAITOR QUEEN

Chapter 1

Aren

He’d been blindfolded for thirteen days.

Shackled too, and occasionally gagged, but despite the persistent burn of the ropes sloughing the skin of his wrists and the foul taste of the fabric shoved in his mouth, it was the endless shadow of the blindfold that was driving Aren, the former King of Ithicana, to the brink of madness.

For while pain was an old friend, and discomfort almost a way of life, to be confined to what sights his own mind could conjure was the worst sort of torture, because despite his most fervent wish it were otherwise, all his mind wanted to show him were visions of her.

Lara.

His wife.

The Traitor Queen of Ithicana.

Aren had more pressing matters to consider, the foremost how the bloody hell he was going to escape the Maridrinians. Yet the practicalities of that need faded as he examined every moment with her, trying and failing to decipher truth from lie, reality from the act—though to what end he could not say. What did knowing if any of it had been real matter when the bridge was lost, his people were dead and dying, his kingdom was on the brink of defeat, and all of it the result of him trusting—of him loving—his enemy.

I love you. Her face filled his thoughts, honey-hair tangled, her azure eyes bright with tears that carved their way through the mud smearing her cheeks.

Truth or lie?

Aren wasn’t sure which answer would be a balm to the wound and which would tear it wide open again. A wise man would leave it alone, but god knew he had no claim to that particular attribute, so around he circled, her face, her voice, the remembered sensation of her touch consuming him as the Maridrinians dragged him, kicking and fighting, from his fallen kingdom. Only once he was off the seas and beneath the heat of the Maridrinian skies did he get his wish: the blindfold removed.

Wishes were the dreams of fools. 

Chapter 2

Lara

Lara hadn’t known Eranahl had a dungeon.

But there was no other word for the dark cell built into caverns beneath the island city, the stone walls slick with mildew and the air stagnant. The steel bars were devoid of even a hint of rust, because this was Ithicana, and even the things that were barely used were well-maintained.

Lara lay on her back on the narrow cot, the thin blanket she’d been given doing little to ward off the damp chill, her stomach tight with hunger because she was subjected to the same rations as everyone else on the island.

This wasn’t how she’d hoped things would go.

Rather than convincing Ahnna of her plan to rescue Aren from her father’s clutches, all her display of martial skill in the council chamber had done was see her slapped in irons, dragged through the city streets, and tossed in this cell. Those who brought her food and fresh water refused to speak to her, ignoring her pleas to see Ahnna.

And every day that passed was another day that Aren remained prisoner in Maridrina, subjected to god-knew-what sort of treatment.

If he was even still alive.

The thought made her want to curl in on herself. Made her want to scream with frustration. Made her want to break free of this place and try to free Aren herself.

Except she knew that would be folly.

She needed Ithicana.

If only she could make them realize that they needed her too.

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