AkHanaAuthor
At court, he is the fool. She is the crown. Their clandestine love is the most magnificent treason of all.
By day, Princess Élodie watches from her high throne as Laurent performs his painted jests, his sharp brilliance buried beneath a mask of mockery. By night, she casts aside her heavy silks for the humble cloth of a maid, seeking the only freedom she has ever known beyond the palace gates. It was in these shadowed gardens, stripped of title and bell, that they first met-two nameless strangers falling in love with the souls behind the masks.
Even when the truth emerged, the fire between them could not be quenched. Their furtive world is a sanctuary built of whispers and stolen breath, made possible only by the brave deception of Élodie's servant, Sabine. While Sabine occupies the royal bed to ward off suspicion, the King, Auguste, begins to find himself enchanted by the "Princess" he thinks he finally knows.
In this palace of gilded mirrors, the deception is total. The King is blinded by a servant's grace, and the Princess is bound to a jester's heart. They have woven a web so intricate that even the sharpest blade seems dull-but in a court where secrets are the only currency, the cost of a mask is higher than any dare to dream.