I'm still working on Book 2, and one of the things that came up while I've been working on it is a new character that now has me thinking about some stuff. I've already told this to my Patrons and asked for their thoughts, and now I'm asking all of you here.

As mentioned previously, Masters of Shadow and Light was intended on only being a single book, which is part of why it's taking me so long to work on Book 2 - I'm writing stuff I'm not used to writing and am trying to make sure I don't just rush past things as a result. Because MSL was only intended on being a single book, the plan had been for Kieran to only enter into a relationship with a single person.

While working on MSL, however, I've wanted to have Kieran in a relationship with others as well, and not individually - in a poly/open relationship. Because the story wasn't planned for that, I didn't put the harem tag on it and was going to keep it that way. A character I'm developing for Book 2, however, would be a pretty good fit for another person for Kieran to get with, either long-term or as just occasional hookups. That's not actually the reason he's in the story, it's just something I realized while working on the character and his background. He's being developed for some other plot stuff and will become a recurring character probably for the rest of the story, whether or not he gets with Kieran.

Due to me not having the harem tag on this story from the start, I decided to see what y'all would think about this. Here are the poll options:

Option 1: Kieran is only in a relationship with one person at a time and doesn't see anyone else or hook up with anyone else, even with permission from his boyfriend.

Option 2: Kieran is only in a relationship with a single person at a time, but he and his boyfriend can still hook up with others individually and without commitment (as long as the other in the relationship is okay with it). In other words, he can hook up with someone, and his boyfriend can hook up with someone, as long as the other is okay with the hookup.

Option 3: Kieran is only in a relationship with a single person at a time, but he and his boyfriend can hook up with others individually or together without commitment as long as the other in the relationship is okay with it. In other words, Kieran can hook up with someone, his boyfriend can hook up with someone, and the two of them can hook up with the same person at the same time (threesome).

Option 4: Kieran and his boyfriend can enter into poly relationships short-term, but it might happen more than once. That is, Kieran and his boyfriend start dating another person together, so it's not just hookups. Could be poly with more than one additional person.

Option 5: Kieran and his boyfriend can enter into a poly relationship of any length, short-term or long-term. This is them dating one or more other people, not just hookups.

I'll use the results from the poll to help guide me on the choice, though know that the most-picked answer might not be the one that I end up doing. You can pick more than one option, so pick any of the ones that you would be okay with seeing. This poll will be active only until I get to the point in Book 2 where the decision on how to proceed will be made. At the same time, I'll mention whether Kieran remains in an exclusive relationship or if it opens up more or not.

Feel free to leave a comment on your thoughts as well.

Thanks for voting, everyone, and thanks for being patient as I work on Book 2!