Gabrielle_Johnson_6482

“You must bear a child, Celia. what good is a woman who isn’t a mother? What good is an empty womb?”

“Especially when it’s a foreign womb, like yours…”

It’s not an easy life when you’re watched month after month, when all the blame is placed at your feet for your young husband having no heir. 

Celia Devon Tralhamir, Crown Princess of Havietten, waits every month with hope mingled with fear. 

A child will secure her future. But it will also bind her for life to a husband she neither loves or respects, who refuses to see her abilities. Is that what she wants?

Is she content to prioritise security over happiness, and be a wordless decorative vessel all her life?

Or is she brave enough to try to forge her own path and seize fulfilment on her own terms? Even in a society that cannot recognise individual brilliance in a mere woman.

A sequel to the WEBNOVEL book “Earning the Love of a Princess”, this novel follows another woman born into the Royal House of Devon, trying to fight the confines that threaten to stifle her happiness.

The Loneliest Ballad

10 November, 1368. St Ivan's Palace, Havietten.

The deep voice jarred Celia out of her reverie. She'd been utterly engrossed in the book on her lap. When she looked up at the handsome lord across the table from her, his wry expression suggested he'd been trying to get her attention for a while.

"Sorry." she muttered sheepishly. "Were you trying to tell me something?"

Lucas grinned. "I've never seen anyone be quite as enthralled by historical records as you, my lady."

"It's all just so fascinating, though. These are all events and battles my tutors made me study as a girl. To now be able to read the written records from the chroniclers of those days, is incredible…" Celia's voice trailed off when she realised how incredibly dry she sounded.

Passing Acquaintances