Melina is Maira's grandmother in Caelthys' Awakening, and the one person left alive who remembers who this family was before the military got hold of it. At first glance, she is exactly what a matriarch should be. Sharp. Assessing. The kind of presence that made Maira stand a little straighter at family gatherings just to avoid being found wanting. She sits in the same chair by the same window, always, as though she has already decided precisely when to expect you. Everything

Mylia is Maira's cousin in Caelthys' Awakening, and one of the very few people in this book who was allowed to grow up untouched by the weight the Blackstone name usually demands. At first glance, she is refreshingly ordinary. She runs a small flower shop in town. She writes cheerful letters. She remembers that hyacinths are Maira's favorite and shows up with an armful of them, for no reason beyond wanting to. Next to a family built on military legacy and inherited violence,

Maia Blackstone is Maira's mother in Caelthys' Awakening, and the woman whose reputation walks into every room several steps ahead of her. At first glance, she is precisely what her rank suggests. Disciplined. Controlled. A woman who reached the pinnacle of military strength through pure, unyielding capability, and who carries that capability into an interrogation room the way other people carry a title. When she spends five hours unleashing the full weight of it on a bound p

Shaelor is the advisor who has guided the throne of Caelthys for centuries in Caelthys' Awakening, and the steadiest presence in a book built almost entirely around people who have stopped believing hope is possible. At first glance, he is exactly what a century of service should look like. Composed. Watchful. The one fae in that cell whose grief runs so deep that even perception sharpened over centuries mistakes it for background noise. Selanor spends a hundred years assumin

Hadvyon Kollston is a high-ranking official of the Moonstone Prison in Caelthys' Awakening, and one of the few characters in this book carrying a legacy he never asked for. At first glance, he feels like every other senior, with sharp eyes that watch longer than they should and an almost obsessive attention to detail. Nearly half a century of unrelenting service has taught him how to look like a man with no opinion of his own about anything he sees. He has an opinion. A stron

Synvar is a mer-fae, the now untethered mate of the previous High Chair of Caelthys, Selena, and one of the quietest characters in Caelthys' Awakening, until he isn't. At first glance, he is easily dismissed. Adopted by Shaelor in near-infancy and raised out of the public eye, coming from two different worlds and being claimed by neither, he has spent his entire life carrying the burden of being conditionally accepted. In the cell he is imprisoned in, he does not move. For a

Selanor is the High Chair of Caelthys, imprisoned for a century at the beginning of Caelthys' Awakening, and the main protagonist of the book. He embodies stillness, a characteristic that was hammered into him from the grief and imprisonment. His eyes have not opened. His body has learned not to move at all, mistaken for defeat rather than the burden of a grief so deep and complete it has rendered him incapable of doing anything more than living with that grief. His own peopl

Maira Blackstone is the human official tasked with interrogating Selanor in Caelthys' Awakening, and the first half of a story I have been working on for a long time. At first glance, she is just another prison official, wearing the same uniform, a more composed expression, and eyes sharper than most others. She cycles through interrogation tactics on him with practiced ease, authority, softness, and the quiet threat of what she could take from him, testing each approach the

Tomorrow, Caelthys' Awakening, which is the first book in the Shards of the Void series, will finally be out in the world. Before it does, let's look into where this book came from. Maybe the most surprising thing about this book is its title. Caelthys is not a person. It is an oceanic fae realm filled with magic, and the homeland of the fae in this book. The "Awakening" in the title is referring to both the realm, which has been cut off, isolated, and defenseless for a cent

Isaac Kline is Estelle's husband, and the groundskeeper of Diamond Villa, the mountain retreat in which Genevieve finds refuge in Gilded Silence. At first glance, he appears to be nothing more than an ordinary staff member, quiet, respectful, and steady. He shows up consistently without needing to be asked, without the performance of a person looking for praise. When Genevieve first meets him, she mistakes that quiet competence for surveillance, the same watchfulness she'd gr

Estelle Kline is the housekeeper at Diamond Villa in Gilded Silence, and alongside her husband Isaac, one of the very first people to make Genevieve feel like a person and not an asset. At first glance, she is warm and grandmotherly. She offers compliments out of the blue and for no reason, which means no one can actually be prepared for them. She plates her warm banana bread even while asking what you want for breakfast, because she's already noticed the decision fatigue you

Naomi Keys is the head of the five-person security detail that is assigned to protect Genevieve in Gilded Silence, by the Velis Protective Services. At first glance, she looks exactly like any other elite professional in her field. She is competent, unafraid to ask the hard questions, her voice always even and professional. She is efficient in a manner that can come off as cold, even though she dresses down, blends in like a chameleon, and does not give an inch. Those who don

People ask where the title Gilded Silence comes from. It’s pretty simple. Genevieve spends most of her life dressed in the most opulent fashions. She married into the highest tier of wealth, and is protected by the most elite. None of it happened because she asked for it, nor was she asked before it was imposed on her. The title is not so much about riches, as it is about what can be hidden with wealth. There is one moment, in the later chapters of the book, where she looks d

Pedro Cortez is a medical resident who later becomes a large part of Genevieve’s life, and is the main love interest in Gilded Silence, the first book of the Hollow Crown Trilogy. At first glance, he is easy to overlook. He has no empire. No fortune. No name that opens doors. But appearances can be deceiving. Pedro was born into a world that was set against his success from the get go. With both his parents heavily addicted to party drugs, it was an uphill battle for him and

Genevieve Donovan is the protagonist of Gilded Silence, the first book in the Hollow Crown Trilogy. At first glance, she appears to be living the life most people dream of. Wealth. Influence. Security. A powerful husband to back her up. But appearances can be deceiving. She was not born into that circle of wealth. When she graduated from high school, she won a scholarship to Yale, which is where she first met Conrad Donovan, the first person she fell in love with, and the man