In 1899 South America Peru’s Adrianna Salazar is the rightful
queen, and considered a thief to the throne despite being the sole surviving
heir. Battling daily against the feud with her Bolivian cousins to protect her
crown against the feud with her Bolivian cousin her cousins’ threats leave
their calling in her home, and forcing her to flee to her fiancĂ© Marcelo, Brazil’s
future king. Too bad Marcelo doesn’t want her.
While her ladies scheme romance between her and the prince,
Adrianna’s feelings blossom for Rafael, Marcelo’s older illegitimate brother.
To make court more interesting, Adrianna begins receiving mysterious notes in
her room from someone called The Loyal Guard warning her of danger. As strange incidents
with corpses are found around court threatening the alliance, Adrianna relies
on Rafael, but he’s hiding dangerous secrets of his own. Her heart should lie
with Marcelo, but her trust and love lie with Rafael.
As
she receives news of Bolivia’s desire to begin a revolution, and the religious
war dividing her people Adrianna knows there’s no time to waste. She needs her
ladies plan to work fast because Peruvia will cease to exist without her. If
she can’t put aside her feelings for Rafael and secure the alliance with
Brasilia her entire reign will be in jeopardy. As Adrianna and Marcelo begin to
align as rulers the castle seer warns of a danger she’s not sure she’ll
overcome.
BRASILIA’S COURT OF BLOOD AND LIES is an alternate historical fantasy complete at 77,000 words. As a Latina interested in historical fiction and fantasy, I wrote this book because historical fiction always takes place in Europe.
First 250
She was raised to conquer her
cousin’s country ending the reign of terror, but failed.
A humid breeze brought the stench of
burning corpses to the balcony as she leaned against the silver-plated rail,
gazing across her homeland. The fields used to have deep green color, and it
didn’t seem coincidence that the King’s death seventeen years prior made the
beautiful shades of green a muggy grey with no life sprouting from the ground.
A death with the stench of burning corpses wafting on the humid air.
Torture happened to her people on a
monthly basis. The events the night before left their marks. The border
military stationed miles from the palace stood straight in a single line,
protecting their country as if their lives. In front of the militia, commoners
threw the officers angered expressions while tossing limbs of the fallen
soldiers into the bright orange flames, and ducked as the embers of the flames
rose from the new content.
She turned from the balcony, and
strode to the wooden trunk at the end of her bed. She bent down, and lifted the
heavy bronze lock turning the key until it made the smallest click, and opened
it. She lifted the lid, regarding the contents borrowed from the night guards;
a sword, a bow and arrow, and an ax. She bent her head over the chest. Her
long, curly black hair and tan skin reflected off the sword’s sheen as she
gently moved it aside.
“Despite what the council thinks I will never be
known as weak,” she whispered.