I needed time to get to know her and let her story unfold, but Verony (VER-oh-nee) Staid eventually became one of my favorite characters in my series.

She is the protagonist of my upcoming release and ARC titled The Conflicted Conspirator: The Fight for Redemption. She is eighteen when the story starts. Physically, Verony’s most striking feature is her height. She’s six feet tall–tall for a woman.

History

When Verony was fourteen, Queen Trista took her from the orphanage to give her a home and a living at the palace. Verony became her messenger girl, but she never felt comfortable around nobility and never grew truly fond of the royal family.

Verony is a duke’s bastard, and she’s never felt as though she had a family of any sort. Needless to say, she’s rather jaded for being so young. She’s practical, blunt, and cunning.

“Staid” means “sedate, respectable, unadventurous.” It’s exactly what Verony wants to be and what her background and circumstances prevent.

Conspiracy

I saw a meme a while back that made me laugh . . . It said that just for once, why can’t we have a story where the hero meets the villain and, instead of rejecting him as always happens, colludes with him?

I laughed because this is precisely Verony’s story. It’s the whole set up for the novel (so I gave no spoilers, I promise!)

If you want more details, you can sign up for my newsletter to get a free early version of the scene where she joins Zalski Forzythe’s conspiracy to take the throne. He’s a sorcerer and one of my favorite characters. Don’t mess with him, though! You’ve been warned.

How to rebuild and find redemption

Verony’s story begins with treason, but it doesn’t end there. She has SOOO much honesty, depth, heart, and heartache. She will move and inspire you, there’s no question about it.

She’s not an evil person, and she quickly regrets her decision to help Zalski–who is evil, more so than she suspected. The novel is her story of seeking to right her wrongs and find redemption–at the cost of grave danger to herself. You won’t want to miss out on her adventure of a lifetime!

Next steps

• Subscribe to this blog for more spotlights, excerpts, reflections, and more
• Sign up for my newsletter for access to an advance scene and instructions, down the road, of how to snag an ARC.
• The Conflicted Conspirator is a stand-alone prequel. It can definitely serve as your first foray into Herezoth, but if you’d prefer to read the Herezoth trilogy first, you can find more here.