A Fine Gilded Cage

"To select the manner of one's confinement is not the same as freedom."As the third princess and fourth child of a prosperous king, Aurelie has worked hard to distinguish herself, attending university and becoming a scholar in her own right. She's also managed to evade the royal marriage market, until her dying father demands a formal selection of noble suitors to secure her future. In a world of duty and expectations, marriage has always appeared as a finely gilded cage to her, something suffocating to avoid at all costs. But she cannot run for her fate forever.Aurelie is thrust into balls, private audiences, and carefully orchestrated schemes. Along the way, she meets an unexpected suitor: Elias, a big gentle man and fellow scholar, undistinguished by rank and plagued by the shame of an old injury, but who offers Aurelie a chance at something different.With her father's health fading and the weight of expectation pressing down, Aurelie must decide what she truly wants, in both a husband and in her own life. In a world of duty and glittering facades with no real substance, can she claim a love that honors both her mind and her heart?A heartfelt, medium-heat romance novel about choice, self-discovery, and finding love on your own terms, sometimes in unexpected people.