The Prince I Rejected

For most of her life, Elara Vale believed she understood her place in the world.

At ten, she entered the Imperial Palace as a servant. At nineteen, with only months left on her contract, she is finally preparing to leave. The plan is simple: return home, help her family, and begin a life that belongs to her.

Then the Crown Prince comes back.

Lucien Davenport has spent the last five years away from the capital, and his return is treated as a national event. He is older now, admired in the way princes are admired, and surrounded by the sort of attention Elara has spent years learning to avoid.

What she doesn't realize is that he remembers her.

Not vaguely. Not fondly. Completely.

While Elara is counting down the days until her freedom, Lucien is faced with the possibility of losing her all over again. And for reasons she cannot understand, the future king seems determined to remain in her path.

The problem is that Elara has spent ten years building a life around duty, not fairy tales.

And if there is one thing she knows for certain, it is that she has no intention of becoming a princess.