This ended up being one of my favorite books I’ve ever written. I had so much fun bringing the characters to life and expanding the original fourteen pages I’d written for the story idea. Along the way, I changed a ton of things.

Originally, Lachlan was supposed to fake his death — but I realized the tension disappeared almost instantly when he turned out to be alive. So, I made the harder choice and let him truly die, which made the moment far more powerful.

I actually wrote this book before writing book one. There were several scenes I rewrote multiple times. The moment when the rebels discover Renshaw’s true identity went through three different versions before the final one made it into the book.

The ending changed a lot too. At first, Morca only brought peace to three kingdoms — Amarr, Sibon, and Clematis. Later, I decided Morca, Kent, and Valek would travel to many countries as emissaries, helping establish new leadership across the region. It made the ending feel bigger and more meaningful.

I loved these characters so much that they ended up inspiring an entire sequel series — Shadow Series, which continues the story after Dream Duology. Funny enough, I hadn’t even planned on writing it until just a few months before I started the first book, Child of Grief.

And after that, I already have another sequel series planned called Tales of Solapin — because, apparently, I can never stop building this world. 😄