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

30 November, 1371. St Ivan's Palace, Havietten.

Celia rapped gently on the low timber door again, wondering why she felt a touch nervous.

It wasn't lost on her that whenever she knocked on the little door, it was because her life was on the threshold of great change. It meant she had an important steps to take.

"Come in." the familiar voice called out to her from the other side.

Celia stepped into the room and glanced around. Nothing had really changed in the tidy little space. The bed, the small table in the corner, the shelves crammed with herb pouches and stacks of books.

Nothing had really changed about the old woman sitting on the bed either. Celia looked at the grey hair and weathered face of the so-called witch she'd become fond of over the years.

"Ah, my lady. So nice to have you visit me again." Thea said pleasantly. "How have you been keeping these days? You look radiant. I see you'll soon add another little one to your brood."

Better Days