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

We found Chava in the hallway, face pale and basket of foodstuffs forgotten on her arm.


"It's the prince," she told us, "he's been found."


Another shriek of fury tore through the castle. It sounded like a dying animal, crying out in rage against the world that had wronged it.


Minerva and I sped through the halls. We were joined by others: partygoers that had stayed the night in the castle, confused servants who looked at me expectantly for guidance, and armored guards rushing to find the source of the disturbance.


When we got there, the courtyard was nearly full of spectators. Banners flapped in the early morning breeze, people murmured prayers and exclamations of horror; periodically, everything would be interrupted by another piercing wail. I saw Brienne and Simon at the edge of crowd, trying fruitlessly to calm and organize those watching.


Chapter 34: Plague on Both your Houses