Today’s the day Merkaia’s reel goes live, and I wanted to share her very first scene. She’s not introduced with a battle or a spell — she’s introduced at her own wedding, marrying a stranger in a country where she doesn’t know a single face.
She’s doing it with this dry, self-deprecating humor that honestly cracked me up while I was writing it — at one point she looks down at her wedding gown and thinks, “She looked like a giant walking pillow.” That’s Merkaia before anything magical happens to her. Ordinary nerves, real humor, a stranger’s hand she’s about to take.
Then the doors open, and everything stops — literally. Time freezes for everyone except the man waiting for her, and a voice she’s never heard slides directly into her mind: “Come to me, Merkaia Ralatheia Nahataba.”
I wanted readers to fall for who she is before the plot ever asks anything of her. That’s always been the goal with this whole cast, honestly — voice first, magic second.
If you’d like to read it in context: Paperback and Kindle — free with Kindle Unlimited.
See the character videos as they go up: Meet the Characters on my website