The Princess of Cortova

With tensions rising between the kingdoms of Westria and Austlind, Molly and Tobias accompany King Alaric to Cortova, where he hopes to form an alliance with King Gonzalo—an alliance that would be sealed by Alaric’s marriage to Gonzalo’s daughter, Elizabetta. But the devious Gonzalo has many surprises up his sleeve, beginning with the revelation that Alaric is not the only suitor. As the days pass, Alaric is trapped in a nightmarish bidding war, in which the price keeps spiraling up and the terms become ever more outrageous, yet he can’t afford to walk away. Then comes the first attempt on Alaric’s life. Through it all, Molly is powerless to help him, for her magical Gift sends her nothing now but terrible forebodings, and visions of an enormous cat who speaks in metaphors of chess. As for Princess Elizabetta, who is as clever as she is beautiful—is she really Molly’s friend, or just another player in her father’s crafty game? The thrilling story that began with the acclaimed novels *The Silver Bowl* and *The Cup and the Crown* comes to a spectacular and surprising conclusion in *The Princess of Cortova*.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Fantasy. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.