Prince of Ordeals: Historical Fantasy - Adventure - Royal Intrigue - Survival

THE PRINCE OF ORDEALS
Historical Fantasy - Adventure - Royal Intrigue - Survival

He was born to wear the crown. He never wanted it. Now he must survive what was meant to make him worthy of it. Prince Adrien de Montferrand has spent his twenty-five years doing everything expected of a future king-except becoming one. While his father, the legendary King Louis-Auguste, has built Montferrand into a formidable kingdom through decades of war, Adrien has chosen a very different life. He drinks, gambles, disappears from court and treats royal duty as a prison. To the nobles, he is an embarrassment. To the soldiers, an untested heir. To his father, perhaps the greatest danger his kingdom will ever face. Yet beneath Adrien's reckless reputation is a young man with a compassionate heart, someone who quietly helps the forgotten, protects those who cannot defend themselves and carries a deep hatred for the suffering created by war. He simply cannot understand why accepting the crown should require becoming the kind of man he despises. Then the kingdom changes. A terrible accident leaves the king weakened, the succession uncertain and powerful figures circling the throne. With enemies waiting beyond the borders and ambition spreading within the royal court, Louis-Auguste makes a decision that will change his son's life forever. Adrien is sent beyond the northern territories into Forêt d'Ambroise, an ancient forest surrounded by legends, fear and unanswered questions. Somewhere within its depths lies Ambrosia, a legendary elixir said to possess extraordinary powers. But the path to it is not a journey-it is an ordeal. Seven ordeals. Each one more dangerous than the last. Each one designed to test something far deeper than strength. As Adrien ventures deeper into the forest, the privileges of his birth begin to mean nothing. His weapons may fail, his instincts may betray him, his courage may disappear when he needs it most, and the forest seems to know exactly what he fears, what he desires and what he has spent his entire life trying to escape. Meanwhile, back in Montferrand, the struggle for the crown takes a darker turn. Charles de Villeneuve, Adrien's childhood friend, possesses everything the court believes a ruler should have-discipline, intelligence, military skill and ambition. As the kingdom's future becomes uncertain, Charles begins asking a dangerous question: What makes someone worthy of a crown-blood or ability? While one man fights to survive a legendary forest, another begins fighting for a kingdom. And somewhere between them stands Princess Isabelle, a remarkable archer who refuses to remain a powerless spectator to the fate of her family. Friendship will be tested. Loyalty will be questioned. The crown will become a prize worth fighting for. And Adrien will discover that the greatest danger may not be the creatures waiting inside the forest, nor the enemies gathering outside its walls, but the person he becomes if he survives. THE PRINCE OF ORDEALS is a sweeping historical fantasy filled with ancient mysteries, deadly trials, royal intrigue, betrayal, swordplay, supernatural danger, survival and a powerful journey of transformation. Because the Seven Ordeals were never simply designed to test whether a prince could survive-they were designed to discover whether he was worthy of becoming a king. Enter Forêt d'Ambroise. Face the Seven Ordeals. And discover what lies beyond the crown.