Meet Vii Harding

Vii’s magic bloomed. Trumpets of silky white bindweed unfurled, their perfume heavy and anesthetizing. “You’re going to try again and it’s going to be different because last time, you didn’t have me.”

Vii Harding, a main supporting character of the upcoming dark fantasy, Blightshade, is a self-possessed badass with razor sharp intuition and an iron guard on her heart.

Vii uses her strength to stand up for others. Sometimes that means taking care of her little sisters. Sometimes it means knocking the main character Lorne down a peg when his ego makes him a threat to her friend Tahj.

As a Binding witch, Vii’s magic blooms in the form of bindweed (morning glory.) Binding magic is all about precision and control, allowing Vii to suppress the magic of others, manage impulses, and deescalate emotions.

Source: Canva

But Vii uses her magic most frequently on herself. She learned a long time ago that letting herself fall in love led only to heartbreak and could never happen again. So Vii bound her heart tight and promised herself she would never drop her guard.

Vii is in control. She’s stronger than any fear and too disciplined for any passing crush. But the man who destroyed her heart is back, bringing with him a curse with the power to threaten the only love she still allows herself.

Source: Alison Wright Artistry

Vii took her own sweet time to develop. I was nearly two full drafts into the writing of Blightshade before she bloomed from a distant side character into a pillar of blazing light in the narrative. Vii was only her exterior. She was jaded, reserved, and dysfunctional. Lord knows, she still is. But at some point in the second pass, she became more. She became dedicated and protective. A fierce guardian, not only of her wounded heart, but of the very, very few people still allowed near it.

Blightshade is Alison Wright's dark fantasy debut following Lorne, a vain witch with corrupted magic. Lorne's quest for a cure will expose his diseased powers, entangle his fate in a knot of unstable relationships, and force him to face the very monster that blighted him.