Hearts of Stone

Of Glossaries and Sequels

As you know, this story is a retelling of a classical tale of love, sacrifice and Stockholm syndrome involving my characters from RIFOY (if you haven't read that yet, you'd enjoy it after this), so there are obvious nods to that and my entire series.

To make that a little less confusing, here's a guide to understanding all the nifty little fun things I put into this story.

Besides that, this initially started as a sotry sharing the same universe as Heart of Midnight (Midnight while I was writing this) by my good friend Cross-Warrior

But since I wanted to make this more my own and also maybe complete the saga, I broke free from the chains and invented a lot of pretty politics and fabulous world building, full of strange creatures, magic and rebellion.

But why the overly complicated family history you ask?

The Jewel Series

Yes, that is why. A lot of the political plot regarding lineages and betrayal is based on the crazy theories surrounding my series, and especially where our dear MC comes from. And no, I'm not referring to Kat here.

So I had my fun and gave life to the craziest fan theories I've been presented with.

It was just too fun for me to mess with this. Cage's real name should be a pretty decent indicator of that.

Also, Cage's beast condition is a big part of the real series.

Right in Front of You

Of course all the cast here may be found in some form in RIFOY. In case you haven't made the connections, here's a handy guide:

Kat Devieux = Kathy/ Kay Dickens

Cage / Kale = Kyle Grant

Cecile = Cecily Howard, high school queen bee and Kyle's girlfriend

Donald, Baron of Royce = Donnie Royce, Kay's boyfriend

Mia and Prudence = Mia and Lucy, Cecily's trusted bimbo squadron

Peter and Jackson = Pete and Jackson, Donnie's best friends

Joey, Lord of Ashley = Joey Wilkes, Kyle's best friend, nicknamed Ashley (Gone with the wind pun).

Keleigh = Kelly Lampard, Kay's best friend

Joshua = Jonah, Kay's dad (I initially wanted to name him Jonah here as well, but I forgot his name 😅)

Sir William = William, Kay's brother

Malcom = Malcom Davis, Kyle's teammate on the basketball team

Young Dustin = Dustin Berk, keyboard player in Uncaged, Kyle's band

Miss Erin, the town gossip = Erin, the school gossip

Sophie, the horse = Sophie Gramont, Kyle's grandma

Uncle that raised Cage = Max Tanner, the uncle that raised Kyle

There are also elements from the plot of the story, like Kay denying Donnie marriage (in RIFOY she denies him sex), receiving her training, Cage being trained for war, Cage never being in love before her, the whirlwind romance between Joey and Keleigh that made Cage want something like that... Yes, that stuff is in RIFOY too.