Hello! My name is Emily Brown and this is the idea behind The Arranged Marriage. I hope you like it. : )

The idea came from a combination of inspirations I had growing up, but it all started with the main character, Alexandra Raybrandt. I was drawing her picture during class in middle school before I even knew who she was or what her story was going to be. I was obsessed and over the years I constructed a world for her to exist in that was far from ideal where her true self could pierce the darkness and truly shine.

I began writing a bit of dark fantasy where she was the lead of my stories that focused on a war between two kingdoms, Luxor and Artoria. I knew I wanted her in an arranged marriage with the prince of the enemy Empire of Luxor, but for the first time about a year and a half ago I decided I wanted it to be a saving grace, not a punishment. Her cousin Nicholas is the main antagonist and pushes forward as he commands half of her late father’s armies who have abandoned her on the fields almost a year before our story takes place. Why have they abandoned the rightful heir? Because she puts a stop to the barbaric name Artoria has been building for itself all this time by outlawing plundering and rape.

So, with Nicholas controlling half of her men, he waits for a few battles to deteriorate what remains of the loyal Artorian Army before handing down a perplexing command. She is to attack the Luxorian royal encampment in what can only be considered a suicide mission where she and her men will be grossly outnumbered. She is to kill the two heirs to the throne, Marcus and Antonious Valron, before allowing her own self to be killed. She is told failure to obey will result in a burned village for every day she makes him wait.

At first and to her deepest regret, she ignores him until one day she comes across a village that once was, but had clearly just been set ablaze the night before. She agrees to the suicide mission and is successful in killing one heir, but ultimately marries the other who seeks to save her life from Nicholas, his father, and the Council Publicus. What none of them realize is that their mortal concerns are the least of their worries and Nicholas Raybrandt, much like Alexandra, is not all that seems to be.

What you can expect from this book is: epic fights, romance, tragedy, witches, pirates, and adventure as they make their way to the imperial palace where she will need to win a war of political intrigue in book two.

This is to be the first book of three. The second is also technically written, but less polished than this first book, but is to be titled The Seduction of the Council and is a continuation of The Arranged Marriage . I hope you enjoy the first chapter of The Arranged Marriage. Please feel free to let me know what you think! I am open to all of your feedback.

Sincerely,

Emily Brown