Not Quite Camelot
by Jennifer Dunne

Angie Blanchard never felt that she fit in, preferring instead to lose herself in books and dreaming of the pageantry and passion of Camelot. But when she is magically transported to the kingdom of Nord D'Rae, instead of enjoying an idyllic world of knights and ladies, she finds herself a pawn in a deadly game of court politics.

Escaping from the wizard who planned to sacrifice her for his rituals, Angie is forced to take refuge with the enigmatic Prince Reynart. But Reynart's own existence is precarious—despised by the courtiers for his bastard birth, he struggles to prove himself a loyal son to his tyrannical father. His task is made all the harder by the Queen who is determined that her son, Reynart's half- brother, should be the one to inherit their father's throne.

Reynart has learned the folly of trusting anyone, and Angie is no exception. Convinced she is part of some nefarious plot, he offers her refuge in his private chambers so he can learn her secrets at his leisure. Won over by her innocent trust, he finds it increasingly difficult to keep up his guard. Slowly, distrust turns to understanding, and eventually to love. For her part, Angie has fallen in love with Reynart, but she wants no part of this brutal world where the king can have a man killed on a whim. She urges Reynart to flee, but he is a man of honor and cannot imagine abandoning his people, nor can he leave his younger brother as the sole target of their father's madness. In danger from the scheming queen and the wizard who craves the power of Angie's otherworldly blood, Reynart plans to magically spirit Angie to safety, intending to return to claim her when he is King. But they draw out their romance for too long, allowing the forces arrayed against them to discover Angie's hiding place. Now the only thing standing between them and their enemies is Reynart's blade and the power of their love.

Jennifer Dunne's Bio

Jennifer Dunne has always been a voracious reader, devouring romance, fantasy, and science fiction books by the score. When she turned her hand to writing books, those three elements mixed and mingled freely in her works. Her first novel, Raven's Heart, won the EPPIE award for best SF original ebook, and took second place in the Sapphire Awards for best science fiction romance. She has written a vampire romance (Dark Salvation), and contributed anthology stories about holidays on distant worlds ("To Life" in Infinite Celebrations), do-gooding demons ("Vacation" in Heaven & Hell), and magical animal rights activists ("The Tower"). Her newest novel, Shadow Prince, is the first of a proposed series of fantasy stories set in the Illornian Empire. When not writing or reading, Jennifer works for IBM as a web site developer. Jennifer is also active in a number of writing organizations, and has served two terms as president of her local RWA chapter, two terms as president of RWA's Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal special interest chapter, and six years as the managing editor of the SF Romance newsletter, in addition to teaching online writing classes.

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