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 May, 1371. St Ivan's Palace, Havietten.

The drapes were drawn back at dawn by the maids, forcing Celia to close her scratchy eyes. She'd barely slept the night before. She'd been too busy looking over her new son in wonder and delight.

Celia had fretted during the past weeks about how she'd manage with two children. Would her heart have enough love to share between them? Would Gabriel feel neglected by the new arrival? Or would she find she couldn't love a second child quite as deeply?

Her worries had been a waste of time. The moment she'd seen her new baby, it was like the size of her heart had immediately doubled. Her love had grown to easily accommodate both of her beautiful boys.

She knew Lucas would treasure them both equally as well.

As for Tobin and his mother though…she was a bit less sure about that. More than once, she'd heard them referring to a second son as a spare, a backup.

Little Ray of Sweetness