~Prologue~

Ella Marchand has been at the mercy of her stepmother for over a decade. True, she can escape anytime she wishes, if it were not for the disgraceful secret keeping her hostage as a servant in her late father's household. At twenty-eight she had long ago given up on any dreams of romance or adventure, that is until a forgotten childhood friend resurfaces into her life and thereby threatens her guarded heart and the very secret she keeps.
Will she have the strength to keep up her numbing facade or will her past, as well as the kingdom, crumble around her in ashes with the truth?