Blood On The Moon Cover
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I've decided to not only remind myself about the characters, but I figured I'd give you something to sink your teeth into too.
I had to make a decision about this one – Erzebet or Victoria.
I chose Victoria because I think Erzebet is going to take a little more time to prepare – she’s exceptionally complex.
Victoria is a born Wolf and has an exciting history.
Her husband, Oscar is not ideal as her consort – he was bitten for Victoria, by her sister.
Because he is bitten and not from the pure bloodline, Oscar would never be the father of the heirs to the Lycaeonship and because of that fact, Victoria and Oscar have never had children (or Whelps).
When Hazel (Red) first met Victoria, at the beginning of Hazel’s Wolf career, she found Victoria to be a mess of opposing emotions, complex ideals and ambitious plans and Hazel, being a simple girl, did not know how to interact with her (or any of the Wolves, to be honest).
Victoria seemed to be ruthless in her aims and would think nothing of using a Wolf to further her plans. Red realised she was being manipulated and she got the hell out of Dodge!
Victoria’s parents, uncles and brothers were all massacred because they tried to usurp Anton in a coup for the throne. (I’m not sure if Darius was behind that… chances are…)
Anton destroyed the pretenders to the throne and wiped them out, even though it caused him great pain to do so. It showed his supporters and enemies that he was a ruthless, powerful ruler and a Wolf to NOT be messed with, so it served a valuable purpose.
Perhaps it was because his sons had risen against him that he came to realise he’d not done a good enough job of raising them to be loyal and maybe that’s why he took greater pains to tutor Victoria and her sister in the ways of Wolf Royalty.
Victoria should have taken Hazel under her wing in the same manner as Anton had with her, but she was drunk with the success of battles won and neglected her protégé.
Victoria and Red have had a few disagreements over the centuries, but she knows her Sentinel Exemplar always has her back and her only aim is to ensure the safety of the Lyacaeons – past, present and future.
Sometimes, Victoria gets an idea in her head and it is difficult to persuade her to look at other sides. That’s when Victoria and Red conflict most often.
The two Wolves are great friends and though they do argue and have differing opinions, they always seem to come around to thinking on the right lines again.
Victoria is not averse to throwing off the mantle of Lycaeonship and going out on a hunt – especially if it is a legal ‘Pack Kill’ where a Wolf has committed such crimes as to warrant execution. Watch out, Darius… you’re walking that line.
She is the absolute Queen of the Wolves, with none higher and her word is absolutely law. Red looks to her as her superior only on occasion (which winds Victoria up more often than not) and she’s independent to the point of risking Victoria’s wrath.
The working relationship between Victoria and her Sentinels is one of absolute trust. Never has there been a traitorous Sentinel and Red works hard to ensure that it will never happen on her watch. There is a deeper bond between Sentinel Exemplar and the Lycaeon than there has ever been and it is despite Red’s beginnings as a Wolf where Victoria took advantage and manipulated her.
Red moved past those betrayals and Victoria knows she was fortunate indeed that she did.
Victoria knows that she may be requested to give back the crown should Anton ever request it (or indeed, any Lycaeon before Anton if one survived) and she also knows that if she wanted a break from the responsibilities, she could call upon Anton to step in and take over.
Heavy weighs the crown.
I don’t know what’s in store for Victoria, Oscar and Anton – or Red, for that matter, but I do know the Wolves have started to wake and I have a few ideas popping into my head. When the ideas start to gather momentum, and force me to listen more closely, that’s the time the book will start to develop at a fast pace and I have to hope I’m ready to write because when they start, the words arrive in relentless flurries until it’s a blizzard of ‘Perfect Storm’ proportions.