EOK Gifford-Smith

Minerva batted her eyelashes at me and pushed her shoulders back. "Do I look lonely?" she said.
She looked like someone I wanted to push onto her back right then and there. Like someone I wanted to kiss until we were both dizzy. But there were things you didn't say to a princess, not when your station was so far below hers.
***
On her first day working as a maid, Eve finds the king dead on his throne. His murder kicks off a cascade of intrigue, and as the plots of the nobility come crashing down around her, Eve is torn between hungry princes, the ever-watching eyes of the royal court, and a mad princess who seems to know far more than she lets on. Complicating everything further is the Imperative, a magical curse through which the Andan nobles have bent the world to their whims. If she is to survive, Eve must learn what it means to find strength in the face of overwhelming power.
The Maid and the Monarch is created by EOK Gifford-Smith, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

The Maid and the Monarch

When the twins did eventually summon me from the dungeons, they did so with little warning. Rough hands shook me awake, then unlocked my shackles and dragged me to my feet. Brienne wasn't there, nor were any servants.


They marched me through the corridors of the castle at a brisk pace. I caught a glimpse of the nighttime sky out one window and guessed it to be a few hours before dawn. By now, all but the early shift of cooks would be asleep. There would be no one who could come to save me.


The twins waited in their sitting room. Xander lounged on a chair by the fire, casually inspecting a wickedly curved knife. Matthias stood across from him, staring into the crackling flames.


"Hello, Eve." Prince Xander balanced the dagger on one finger, then let it drop back into his hand.


Chapter 17: An Introduction to Becoming a Murderer