In April 2026, author Ellis Hunter responded to a set of discussion questions included in our Cursed Covenant Volume 1 Book Club Kit to discuss Blood Bound. Their responses are available here for those who were not able to receive this box. Enjoy!

What inspired this novel?

Ellis Hunter (EH): Blood Bound was borne out of a conversation between the two of us about all of the fantasy novels and authors we love! We had been friends for years, ever since we worked at the same book publisher as publicists, but we hadn’t realised we shared this passion for the genre. After many evenings spent gushing about magic, romance, and all things fantastical, we just turned to each other and said, ‘shall we write a dragon book together?!’ and it all spiralled from there. As to the idea itself, well we drew inspiration from our friendship and decided what could be more fun than two friends writing about two friends? And thus our two FMCs, Astrid—our witch princess destined to duel to the death—and Skylar—our blade juggling badass searching for her missing friend—came to be.

As this is the first book in a trilogy, how did you decide which mysteries to answer and which to leave unresolved?

EH: A good question. It’s simpler with the first book, as Blood Bound is relatively contained to this competition between the witches and the dragon riders, and there are questions that have to be answered in this book to ensure it’s a satisfying read in and of itself. For example, the reader knows there is a duel—the whole set up is ‘You duel or you die’—so you have to answer the “why” of that, the when and the where, and ultimately, the “who” will win and “how”. But then the first book is ultimately a launching ground for the hugely ambitious journey we go on in books 2 and 3. For us, we didn’t start out by saying ‘we’re going to write a trilogy”, and then made a story fit; we started with the story, followed the arc of it, then realised the best way to tell it was by splitting it into three parts. The first part is more distinct (you’ll see what we mean when you get to that ending…) then 2 and 3 are more cohesive in the journey they follow, and that has taken more planning in terms of what to answer when to make each book as satisfying as possible, while also leaving the reader wanting more! Until the end of book 3, when we hope readers will feel perfectly sated (if not bereft for the characters lol).

Was it a challenge to write as a team? What was your favorite part about writing together?

EH: We found the positives outweighed any challenges by a country mile. The main challenges were more around logistics of how to do it when we found ourselves living 300km apart and we both had lots of other commitments! But once we got over that, it’s just been the most incredible experience. You get to work every day with one of your best friends making up fantasy worlds and writing swoony scenes or brainstorming what a dragon would do in X situation, or a sarcastic cat might say in Y situation! We’re also lucky in that we’re quite aligned on our ideas and vision for our characters (who we love like children) and the story—we just gel really well as a writing team. We’re both incredibly grateful to be doing this together and honestly, still pinching ourselves that this is real!

Did one of you write Astrid's chapters, and one of you write Skylar's, or did you both help write both character POVs?

EH: Yes, so Katie writes Astrid’s chapters and Becky writes Skylar’s chapters, though we both plan out all of the chapters and characters’ arcs together and we both feedback editorially on each others’ chapters. We have to leave our egos at the door! Thankfully, we trust each other implicitly, and we know we can be, and have to be, honest with each other, which is essential for a partnership like ours.

Would you rather be a witch or a dragon rider?

EH: HA! Well, Katie HAS to say a witch of course—I really want a familiar (I have two black cats, so I sort of already do) and Witch Gift! And Becky would have to say dragon rider, just to even things out. Plus I horse ride, and I’ve always said that’s the closest thing to riding a dragon you can get, so I like to think I’d be good at riding a dragon?! (I almost definitely wouldn’t be).