saltedpepper

When powerless, unfavoured Princess Soleia was arranged to marry the newly titled Duke Orion Elsher, she assumed they would find love eventually.

Who knew that her father would send off her husband mere hours later to fight a war?

Soleia was left alone to deal with an impoverished fief, a crumbling estate, and spiteful, vindictive relatives of the Duke who all wished to see her gone. 

She couldn’t leave― there was nowhere else to go. Soleia desperately wanted her husband to return so he could offer her a helping hand. However, when he did, he returned with Elowyn, a woman he claimed was his true love. 

A woman hellbent on taking her place as the rightful Duchess, no matter what she had to do to get Soleia out of the way. 

Mistreated, misunderstood, and miserable, Soleia was eventually thrown out of the estate she helped build.

Fortunately, when one door closes, another one opens. Unknown to Soleia, a man more powerful than her husband had been watching her, waiting for the right time to snatch her into his gilded cage. Duke Elsher had been foolish to let go― but the crown prince of Raxuvia wouldn’t make the same mistake.

***

Prequel to Stolen by the Rebel King.

The Hidden King's Stolen Wife

The young girl's voice trailed off, and she looked so utterly miserable, that Soleia stuffed the rebuke that was threatening to emerge back down her throat. It wasn't her fault for making assumptions― in this tiny town, hardly anyone knew of her existence despite knowing that Duke Elsher married someone.

And from the way Orion had been treating her, no one with a working pair of eyes would believe she was his beloved wife. That honor went to Elowyn, without a doubt.

"It's alright," Soleia sighed instead, trying to smile but not quite succeeding. "You're not the first person to have such an impression."

The girl looked even more wretched. "I'm so sorry! I… understand if you might not want to stay…"

Rafael wanted nothing more than to share a bed with Soleia, but he knew he couldn't be the one to propose such an idea.

Disastrously Small