“Q” is for Quelling!

“Q” is for Quelling! 

Quelling is the second book of my series, The Purification Era. It starts where Sowing ends, literally. Sowing ends in one POV, and Quelling starts by showing the other side. The stuff that happens in Quelling was originally part of Sowing…but it got waaaay too long, so I split it. :)

What you can expect from Quelling:

~More Mas 

~More Sorek 

~More romance (WUT. I’m not saying between who, though…)

~Death…lots of that…

~Itzalin 

~The Ward 

~Betrayal ;) 

~Some awesome new characters 

Some questions about the book:

**What are you most excited about introducing in book two? 

I am really excited to push some of the characters to a breaking point. That’s not exactly something I’m introducing, but it leads to some really cool stuff. ;) 

**Who is your favorite new character?

Hands down, Elkanah. He’s Mas’s friend and just…fun. He plays a relatively large role, and I love his personality. He’s somewhere between ruthless and awkward, and he babbles when he’s nervous. :P I love him. 

**What has been your biggest road block in writing this, and how have you gotten over it? 

The rebels. I’m not good at figuring out their movements, and they’re so trapped and oppressed that it makes it hard for them to do anything. That, and since it is in Rab/Ari’s POV’s, I can’t show some stuff. So trying to figure all of that has stumped me a bit. Also…Mas. Mas is killing me in this book. I can’t elaborate much, but calculating each of his actions and decisions is exhausting. I feel bad for him. Poor guy needs a drink. *snorts at inside joke with my characters* 

**How do you feel the name relates to the story? 

The entire book deals with increasing oppression, the Huls’ attempts to quell the rebellion before it starts. (Sort of. ;) ) Whereas Sowing deals with things starting, Quelling is the response of a brutal regime that will do anything it takes to achieve their goals. 

**What is going to be featured on the cover as importance? 

I’m still thinking of cover ideas, but there will be fire. Fire has immense significance to the series in general and this book in particular. My current idea is a person burning at the stake in the background with something showing oppression in the foreground. 

Here is a little sneak peek! 

~~~

​I couldn’t see the gate from the Burrow, but I could see some of the square, and every free moment I had, I glanced over. Hoping, praying, waiting. I saw thousands of Hulcondans, but never Sorek. After the Burrow cleared out for the day, I sat with Edaliah near the bell tower with a clear view of the gate.

​No sign of him. 

​I laid awake for what felt like hours that night, staring at the black ceiling, imagining every terrible scenario my mind could hold. Wondering what it’d mean for the group if they’d already discovered his deception. How long it’d be before Masrekah took my sister somewhere secluded and used her against me. What would happen to the rest of us if Sorek never came back.

​

The next day was no better. Worse, actually, because it rained for much of the morning and afternoon, and being outside to watch for him was too suspicious. So I sat at home while Ariliah was off with her stupid Hulcondan friend, my stomach churning, staring at the door, willing him to knock.

​Again, nothing. Only silence. 

​Masrekah stayed silent as well. There were no announcements, no Assemblies, and no arrests as far as I knew. There were no killings or executions, and, unless he was keeping it quiet, no posters either, though I thought I saw a couple guards taking something off an alley wall. For anyone looking at the city, it would have seemed there was nothing amiss, no rebel activity, no hunt called down. He seemed to be doing absolutely nothing, but that had to be a trick, a trap of some sort. Something to keep us nervous so we couldn’t predict his next move. It was Masrekah. He always had a vicious plot.

​With him, silence was not safety. Silence was deadly.