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

23 December, 1370. St Ivan's Palace, Havietten.

"It seems like no matter how hard I try, my prayers aren't really being answered these days." Celia murmured to herself one day as she walked the long distance to the North Tower.

That sentiment wasn't entirely accurate, she was forced to admit. There were a great many things in her life that were blessings.

Lucas and her were more in love than ever, both excitedly awaiting their new child's arrival.

Gabriel was healthy and beautiful, now able to toddle around unevenly on his dimpled little legs.

Her pregnancy was going smoothly and she no longer felt as sick in the mornings. It was also the reason she wouldn't be stuck sharing a bed with Tobin again until early summer.

Yes, there were many answered prayers in her life.

But she couldn't pretend there wasn't a shadow in the corners, slowly spreading it's dark tentacles, just waiting to burst forth and create upheaval in her life.

Unanswered Prayers