The Dark Duchess

Book excerpt: In the kingdom of Drachenberg there lived a compassionate Duke and his lovely Duchess. The Duchess lived happily with the Duke as her husband and Princess Dahlia as her best friend. As several years pass by, the Duke falls ill and on one sunny day, he quietly passes away. The duchess alienates Princess Dahlia and the other royals. She turns to dark magic in hopes of obtaining a cure for her heartache, but she only grows more vacant each day and her heart slowly withers away. One night she has an idea, she would create five little monsters to destroy the happiness of the people in her kingdom. She wants everyone to be a miserable as she had become. The Duchess sends her monsters out to steal precious items that belong to the peasants of Drachenberg. Everything is going according to the Duchess s plan for a brief moment. When Princess Dahlia meets Prince Draven, a young man who looks identical to the Duke, it enrages the Duchess. Consumed with jealousy, she only wants to steal one more thing. The heart of the princess. Her monsters do as she says until they realize they are heartless. But if the monsters want hearts, they must set everything right. They become determined to show everyone the truth about monsters: monsters are created, not born. It s a dark tale of love and loss, of repentance and forgiveness, of magic, and above all, of monsters.