The Rose and the Sword

By Jill Gregory

An exiled princess’s last hope for recovering her lost kingdom lies with the embittered prince she is pledged to marry— a man as impossible as he is irresistible. Brittany is a beautiful orphan descended from a great sorcerer who discovers she must marry a king, a man she has never met. She was pledged to him at birth. An old enemy of her family is searching for her to destroy her. Only her marriage to the Prince and her possession of the magical Rose Scepter from the time of King Arthur can save her and her kingdom. She must find the sword and marry the prince she’s never met if she wishes to live. Little does she know that she will fall in love with the embittered prince and find the love and happiness she deserves in his kingdom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jill Gregory
• Release date: Feb 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463867310

Book preview

1

You sent for me, Your Highness?

Brittany curtseyed and smiled at Queen Elysia. She waited quietly in the queen’s drafty bedchamber for the snowy-haired woman wrapped in ermine robes to reply.

Outside the castle walls, in the small kingdom of Strathbury, fat snowflakes tumbled from a leaden winter sky, and the fields and hills were wrapped in gauzy layers of snow every bit as thick and white as the ermine of the queen’s robes.

Inside, the flickering candles illuminated the chamber’s velvet bed hangings, the rich tapestries, and the heavy, gilt-trimmed furnishings as Brittany shivered in her green wool gown and awaited the queen’s bidding.

It was strange the way Elysia was staring at her, almost as if she had never seen her before -- which was ridiculous, since Brittany had been her ward ever since she could remember. But Queen Elysia’s kindly old eyes were fixed on her unblinkingly, intensely, as if she was memorizing the face of the girl she had known for nearly twenty years.

Your Highness, are you well? Brittany asked uncertainly, as the queen suddenly lifted a hand to her brow and closed her eyes as if she were in pain. How can I help you?

Without waiting for a formal invitation, she hurried forward in alarm.

Queen Elysia took a deep, shuddering breath. She clasped the hand of the young woman who sank down upon the edge of her bed.

Ah, child, do not fear for me. I am in pain, yes, but it is not a physical ailment. My heart grieves because the time has come for me to tell you something, something that will change our lives forever. Something that will take you away from me.

Take me away from you? Oh, Your Highness, no! Please, no. Whatever I have done, I will fix. If I have offended, please allow me to --

Child, child, you have done nothing -- nothing but earn my love and respect, my admiration. The queen smiled through a glimmer of tears that made her faded blue eyes appear the color of the winter sky. You have been an exceptional ward. A handful, perhaps, but a lovely handful. I care for you, child, as if you were my own daughter. If it were up to me, I would have you with me always, safe and by my side. But that is impossible. I waited as long as I could to tell you the truth, but now your twentieth birthday will arrive in only a few days, and I fear I may have delayed too long. There isn’t much time.

Brittany stared at her in complete confusion. She had been raised as a lady at the queen’s side, but from the time she was a girl she had been taught to ride, to shoot an arrow, and to wield a sword with the skill of a man. Brittany had never understood why the queen had allowed her man-at-arms to train her in these things, but she hadn’t questioned it because she’d craved the challenge. She was a girl who loved to run, loved to race her horse through the woods and jump the streams that meandered behind the castle. There was no tree in the kingdom she hadn’t climbed, no flower she hadn’t gathered, and no person, high or lowborn in the land whom she did not know by name and who did not bow or curtsey before her, for merely her laughter could bring a smile from even the sourest old man.

But now she felt her heart breaking into a thousand pieces. She was to be sent away? Why?

I don’t understand. Brittany moistened her lips. The sad words and grave expression upon her guardian’s face filled her with foreboding. I don’t wish to leave. Not you, not Strathbury. If I haven’t displeased you, then why must I go? I wish to stay with you always!

If only you could, my child. Queen Elysia shook her head. But this castle will hold no safety for you, not after your twentieth birthday has passed. The danger draws near. Every moment only brings it closer. To escape, you must go, you must find your betrothed and --

My betrothed! Brittany stared at the queen in shock, wondering if she had lost her senses. Then, suddenly, she understood, and she laughed aloud with relief.

I don’t have a betrothed, Your Highness. She couldn’t contain a smile. As you well know. Is that what this is all about? You wish to send me away so that I can find a husband?

"Not just any husband, child. The one who is pledged to you. The one to whom you are pledged, have been pledged for all these past years. Oh, dear. Elysia’s thin lips trembled. I never should have delayed this long. But I wanted to keep you here with me for as long as possible. I didn’t want this day, this moment, ever to come."

The ground seemed to shift beneath Brittany’s feet. Nothing the queen was saying to her made any sense. But it filled her with dismay. If she was pledged to some man -- had been pledged all her life -- why was she only just learning of it? Why had she been allowed to dance at court festivities with handsome knights and dashing noblemen? Why had she been allowed to fall in and out of love half a dozen times, allowed to hope and to dream of one day finding her one true forever love?

Why hadn’t anyone ever told her she’d been promised -- and to whom? she wondered in mounting horror. A vision of a stout, ugly toad of a duke suddenly filled her mind, and she choked back panic.

It dawned on her that everything she knew about her life and her past now seemed to be unraveling. From the time she was a little girl, she’d been told that her parents had been well born, that her mother had died giving birth to a babe when Brittany was not yet two years old, that her father shortly after had died of a fever and she’d been sent to live with Queen Elysia because the queen was a cousin to Brittany’s mother, and childless, and kind as could be.

No one had told her about any danger, about ever having to leave this castle -- or about any betrothed.

I am trying to understand, she told the queen in a voice that trembled a little, though she strove for calm. But your words are a riddle to me, Your Highness. I beg you, explain what all this means. And tell me why I have never before heard a word about this man to whom I am supposedly betrothed.

"It was a secret, child. A secret I have kept for eighteen years in order to protect you. You could not know the truth. But now it is time. I must tell you all of it, so that you are prepared. The time is short, because I delayed, dreading this day of telling you what lies ahead."

The queen’s hands trembled upon the bedcoverings. But you have a right to know, child. A right to the life that was stolen from you -- and a right to be warned about the danger that will come. And once you know, you must leave. In the morning, at first light.

So soon? Brittany drew in a deep breath. I think you had best tell me, Your Highness. Why must I go, and what is this danger?

You are more than what you know, my dear child. More even than the beautiful and brave young woman we have all come to love. You are royal, Brittany, every bit as royal as I, and more than that, you are powerful. Very powerful. Have you never felt it? Have you never felt the power deep inside your blood?

Power? Brittany sat very still. Was that what it was? Power? Sometimes, at odd moments, there would come a chill. A chill that pervaded her skin and made her shiver, yet at the same time her blood would seem to