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

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

Celia reclined against her pillows, utterly bored.

Was confinement this boring the last time, she asked herself in despair? I honestly can't remember.

The big difference with Gabriel's arrival was that back then, I was only been a crown princess. They shut me away but at least the day to day ruling of Havietten continued uninterrupted.

Now all I can do is fret over the many ways Tobin could be either plundering or simply fucking up - or both! - our kingdom. I can't go out to meet with the Grand Council and none of those men will humble themselves to visit me here. I can only rely on my visitors to tell me about important events.

Ugh. I miss my son. I miss Lucas. I feel like climbing the walls!

At least I would if I weren't so swollen and sore.

Reckoning