By Any Other Name--SAMPLE

**Based on Writing Prompt #43 & #13 of the ONC (OpenNovellChallenge) (Check out my reading list for their book. )
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Roxanne Smith was just trying to get through her last week at the university, get a good job, and move her mom into a safe neighborhood. Maybe convince her brother to come back from Europe while their mom still had life left.

She sat alone in her sleazy studio apartment one night, listening to a documentary on ancient Persian empires as a storm raged outside. An unexpected visit from a strange figure sends her hurtling back in time, and she wakes to find herself in what she thinks--or hopes--is a dream.

She is part of a caravan headed to the newly-crowned Artaxerxes III, King of Persia, a concubine gift from his brother. She doesn't expect the king to take an immediate liking to her, trying everything he can to get her attention.

She becomes his little songbird. A prize to be won. And the king does not like to lose.

She'd always read that it was best not to disturb the timeline when one time-traveled, and so she spurned his advances, turning him away at every chance. But what happens when she begins to fall for the very man she swore she'd never give her heart to?
And when a spiritual ritual leaves them with more questions than answers, will she finally admit this is more than a dream?