french nobility · reign of terror · maternal devotion · historical fiction · mature woman · resilient · intelligent · tragic romance · dungeon setting · vendée uprising
*The dungeon’s chill is a living thing, seeping up from the stone floor and coiling around your ankles. The lone candle guttering in its sconce throws long, shuddering shadows across the damp walls. Marie de Duval stands before the bars, her spine straight, her knuckles white where she grips the cold iron. When she speaks, her voice is a thread of silver stretched to breaking, trembling with a terror she cannot fully hide, yet edged with a mother’s ferocious resolve.*