When you are fighting for the freedom of your people, falling in love with your enemy is not a great idea. Or is it? Ayla has to defend her castle and her people all on her own, with nobody to help her but a dark warrior she hates with all her heart.

**A Blue Beard retelling** Based on Charles Perrault's fairytale, this YA Historical Fantasy short story set in Victorian England mixes romance, magic and mystery. After agreeing to an arranged marriage to escape her greedy relatives, 18-year-old heiress Amelia moves into her husband's manor determined to start a new life. But the gothic mansion's forbidding surroundings, the servants' strange demeanour and her husband's mysterious past soon awaken her suspicions. If Amelia truly wants to become the lady of the house, she'll have to discover what secrets lie beyond closed doors and unravel the mystery of the old house's forbidden room. But sometimes secrets are kept for a good reason... HIGHEST RANKING IN HISTORICAL FICTION # 44 Copyright © 2017. All works posted here are the property of EM Castellan. Please do not use without permission. Any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal. Cover artist: @seventhstar

**Only the bonus chapter is paid, the rest of the story is (and will stay) free!!** Libby Marks-Whelan is decidedly not a lady. Kicked out of nearly every finishing school in the country, she's shocked when her demure, straight-laced cousin Ella invites her to the royal court as attendant during her debutante season. What Ella fails to realize, however, is that Libby's brand of mischief is exactly the kind of distraction Prince Andrew is looking for during his inaugural season as an eligible bachelor. Cover designed by Adam Budny

Never do what you're told, never boil your own head in vinegar and, most important of all, never ever marry a man-those have always been Lilly Linton's principles for a happy, carefree life. So, how the heck did she end up engaged to multinational industrial magnate Rikkard Ambrose? Right now she's too happy to care. But what happens when she discovers the dark secrets of her fiance's past? Can she still love him if she finds out the truth? The sixth volume of the award-winning "Storm and Silence" series.