A Gilded Cage | Tales From The Court of Ravaeryn
When Eleanora opened her eyes, she thought she had woken in heaven. The bed beneath her was as soft as angel feathers, her pain melted away. She gazed at the painted cherubs on the ceiling-until her eyes caught on something that did not belong.
A bloodied sword.
The door swung open. A tall man strode inside, dark hair tousled, his shirt unbuttoned to the chest. Scars crisscrossed his skin, his eyes cold and impossibly blue. For an instant, she wondered if he might truly be an angel. But no-if anything, he was the Angel of Death.
"You have awakened," he said, voice low, rough-edged. "Took you long enough. I thought the fever would kill you."
"I am not dead?" she gasped, more horrified than relieved.
His mouth twitched. "Perhaps you are still delirious."
She lifted her chin. "And who are you, sir?"
His smile was mocking. "Nicholas de Lavilliers."
The name struck her like lightning. Nicholas. The boy in the portrait, except now, he was no boy at all.
--
After losing her father in a fire, Eleanora Finley is taken in by her estranged aunt, the Queen of Ravaeryn. What should have been a fairytale rise becomes a gilded cage, as Eleanora is thrust into the Choosing Ceremony, where noble girls vie for the Crown Prince's hand.
But Eleanora's heart does not stir for the charming prince. Instead, it beats for the wrong man: Nicholas de Lavilliers, the King's nephew and infamous northern war general. Hardened by battle and scarred by betrayal, Nicholas wants nothing to do with the crown, or the Queen's niece. To him, she is just another pawn.
Yet, he discovers Eleanora is not the spoiled lady he assumed. She longs only for freedom, to paint, to live. Against all reason, their paths intertwine, sparking a dangerous attraction neither can ignore.
Caught between the duty imposed on her and the forbidden love that tempts her, Eleanora must make a choice: submit to the crown's design, or risk everything for the one man she was never meant to love.
