Protecting a prince’s sister-in-law seems simple until a queen tries to match him up with her daughter.
Keenan left home to watch out for a young woman searching for her friend. But when bandits attack, leaving them separated, Keenan is left lost and wounded, stumbling through the woods in search of help.
Princess Sakura needs a titled husband to inherit the throne. Since a prophecy declared her the future bride of a common soldier, she only has a few months until her brother is named heir in her place. But it’s hard to find a husband at all in an isolated castle.
When an injured young man staggers up to their door, the queen offers him the chance to prove he is a “true prince” and so marry her daughter. Sakura believes their guest has enchanted the queen…until her mother confides a plot that will guarantee Sakura the throne. All she has to do is make Keenan fall in love with her.
But he doesn’t trust her or her mother – and the key to her crown might be too powerful to give up.
Trials and Command is a clean, no-spice retelling of The Tinderbox and The Princess and the Pea. It is book five in The Roumaterra Chronicles, a series of interconnected, standalone fairy tale retellings perfect for fans of Brittany Fichter and Annette K. Larsen.
Programmer. Composer. Author of clean, no-spice romantasy with swoony moments and a dash of adventure. Erin Halbmaier’s love of a good tale covers multiple genres, but the relationships are always what draw her in. Her flawed characters stay in the 1.5-2 level for romance and have to struggle for their happily ever after, but she doesn't do sad endings. When not buried in a book or writing one, she can be found fiddling with computer code, writing music, or hanging out with her husband and kids.