A Reckless Magic What If . . .

Once upon a time, I was undecided about how Endless Magic was going to end. Here is a little sneak peek into an alternate ending that almost happened.

I recently made a vlog about Reckless Magic and how I stumbled into writing it. I talk in the video about not knowing what the story was going to be until it was. I didn’t know the ending to Hopeless Magic when I started. And I certainly didn’t know the ending to Endless. But . . . once I got into Reckless, and the characters and world and plot started to unfold, things clicked together for me very quickly.

However. As a new and amateur author, I wasn’t sure I could make it all work. I mean . . . can you really bring Kiran Kendrick back from the worst kind of betrayal? Does a love story really work if all your readers hate your hero?

Also, it should be said, I think I have undiagnosed ADD. LOL! But seriously . . . my brain doesn’t stop, doesn’t slow down. Zach and I once went to a marriage conference called Men Are Waffles, Women are Spaghetti, and it was about the differences between a male and female brain. Well, my brain is not a normal-daily-caloric-healthy-portion of spaghetti. My brain is a pasta buffet where everything is touching and spilling onto the floor. All that to say, most of my books have alternate endings and subplots. The books I haven’t even written yet, have a hundred different branches that could yield a thousand different possibilities. I am always flipping through ideas, seeing what sticks. Like an over-caffeinated, sleep-deprived college kid using flash cards to study. In fast forward. Haha.

All that to say, as I was developing The Star-Crossed Series in the way that actually played out, I had an alternate ending unfolding in tandem. Just in case.

It was a backup of sorts. But it was also a natural, creative process that sparked to life and then unfurled like a rug being rolled out. Suddenly, there it was. As real and possible as the other ending. And while we all know how Endless ends, until it was on the page, four books later, this alternate ending remained a real option.

I have never shared this with anyone. Mostly because I never wanted anyone to go, “What? You should have done that! I wish it was that!” But also, because I’m a hippy at heart, and when things happen in my fictional worlds, I don’t doubt them. Unless an editor steps in and forces change, I’m a “This was always meant to be” kind of creative. I know, I know . . . it’s definitely gotten me into trouble more than once. But I trust my process, I trust my instincts, and I trust these characters who feel so real they don’t feel like mine at all. They feel like real, living people with thoughts and opinions and feelings and real lives playing out before me. I’m just the lucky person who gets to write down what they tell me.

So here it is. For your reading pleasure. A summary at least.

Endless Magic starts the same. Eden is locked in the palace magic-less, a prisoner to the man she once loved. The same man who was at fault for having her beloved grandfather killed.

And so begins the most tragic redemption story of all time—or at least in my library. Because while Eden falls in love with Kiran all over again, she is held back by the unwillingness to forgive him. She loves him yes, but she doesn’t know how to let go. So, the ending is more angsty, there’s more internal conflict, Kiran’s efforts to win her over gradually grow bigger and bolder.

And then that final fight scene in the castle . . . They fight their way through the Citadel, side by side, and Eden realizes she’s been a fool. This is the love of her life, her soulmate, her forever, her future. And so, she lets herself let everything go, she gives herself permission to love him again, to forgive him fully. She tells him this in between battles. It’s a beautiful, magical scene. The magic connects completely. They kiss, they probably both cry, they fall into everlasting love. And then they go to fight Lucan together.

Which is where Lucan overpowers Eden and Kiran throws himself between his father and her to save her life and . . . dies.

Yep, I was going to kill that boy right off!

Could you imagine the heartbreak? The tears? The fury?? It would have been a moment to define the entire series. It would have broken me as the writer. It would have shattered all our hearts. Would we have recovered?

But I liked it because it felt like a closed loop. A beloved life to pay for a beloved life. It wasn’t just that Amory had died, it was that Kiran was at fault. And there was a beautiful redemption in him having to pay for it with his own life.

She would have gone on to rule the kingdom with her brother, Avalon. And it obviously would have led to a fifth book called Flawless Magic or Ageless Magic or Boundless Magic or something. Which would have been the full story of how Jericho wins her over despite her tragic grief. And that’s probably where I decided against it. I loved the classic ending too much. The neatly tied bows. The dotted Is. The crossed Ts. And while there was a seriously real period of time when I believed Jericho was the one . . . he just wasn’t. The series was called “Star-Crossed” after all. An extra book and a different “love of her life” felt . . . contrived. Or just . . . not right in a way that’s hard to fully explain.

Wild, right?!? It’s honestly hard to even type those words because they are not the story. But, back in the tender year of 2012, with only a couple books under my belt. . . I was still undecided and, to be honest, insecure, and this was very much a possibility.

I’m so happy with the route Eden, Kiran and I went. And I will never get over the number of readers who have let me know how much they hated Kiran, how they threw their kindles across the room, and decided to never, ever, ever like him again . . . and then, who—just like me—did. We all fell in love with him a second time right alongside Eden. And isn’t that the best kind of story?

They are just one of my all-time favorite couples because of their ending. Their love cost them both so very much. All the way through. From beginning to end. And it was worth it. The sacrifice made it mean something. Both on page and in real life. And that’s how I will always write love. Because it should mean something. It should always mean something.

So what do you think? Would you have liked that ending? Or are you happy things worked out the way they did?? Or may