Title: THE OPAL CROWN (The Opal Mask #2)
Author: Jenny
Lundquist
Pub. Date:
October
28, 2014
Publisher:
Running
Press Kids
Pages: 368
Formats: Paperback,
eBook
Find
it: Amazon, Barnes
& Noble, Goodreads
In the year since she was betrothed to the crown prince of Kyrenica, no one has suspected that the Masked Princess has been a decoy. That Elara, the secret twin sister, has been pretending to bePrincess Wilha all along. The royal family has kept Elara’s identity hidden from the world, and for the girls, swapping lives has not been easy. Galandra is quickly declining, and the sisters continue to be a pawn in the Guardian’s ever-changing endgames.But the stakes rise when Elara and Wilha’s younger brother, Andrei, takes the Galandrian throne after their father's death, and he reveals the girls' deception to Kyrenica’s royal family. Viewed as traitors, Elara and Wilha realize they are now fighting for their lives—and for their country. However, with only one crown and one throne to overthrow, Elara and Wilha must decide who will become queen. Or rather, the next savior for their people.The sequel to the Princess in the Opal Mask.
Now on to the post!
Distant laughter echoes through the halls as Stefan Strassburg
walks the corridor leading to his bride-to-be’s chambers. Behind him, a line of
guards silently follow him.
It is the
longest walk of his life.
Lord Royce’s
words still ring in his ears: “They
discussed sending a decoy to Kyrenica. We cannot be sure that the woman you are
to marry is in fact Wilhamina Andewyn.”
At first Stefan
had laughed at the Guardian. For how could it be? No one could be that
conniving, that deceitful. And yet…hasn’t he wondered at her slips in memory?
At her strange mix of elegance and ignorance? At her fiery spirit, so at odds
with everything he ever heard about Wilhamina Andewyn, the Masked Princess?
He knocks on her
door and she lets him in, while the guards wait behind. They make small talk,
but he feels he must be giving himself away somehow, for her eyes are shifting
around, like a cat caught among wolves. Would she look this way if she was
innocent?
“I had the most
interesting message from your brother Andrei, accompanied by the most
interesting messenger. Do you want to hear it?”
He watches her
as he relays the message. Her face drains of color, and she looks frightened.
And all at once, he realizes he doesn’t need to hear her answer. He was right to summon the guards. The message
is true.
The woman in
front of him is an imposter.
She doesn’t give
in, not at first. But finally: “I’m not her. I’m not Wilhamina. But I swear I’m
royal. I’m not just a look-alike. I’m Wilha’s—”
“I don’t care
who you are!” He pushes all his anger, all his hurt into his goblet. Then he
hurls it at the wall and the glass shatters, just as he feels shattered. But
there’s no sense of relief, no lessening of the pain raking his heart. She’s a
liar, a manipulator.
“Stefan, I can
explain—”
“Explain? I was
falling in love with you,” he says and he can’t keep his voice from breaking.
“I would have married you and spent my life trying to win your love in return.”
For he’d always known she didn’t love him as he did her. But he didn’t care. He
wanted her. It didn’t matter that their marriage was the key to keeping peace
in the region—he wanted her, the girl
who told such enthralling tales around the fire. The girl who seemed to
genuinely love his sister. The girl who, it turns out, never existed at all.
But if he was honest, he’d thought
he’d seen small sparks, small clues that her heart was softening to him, even
if she rarely let her guard down. But
it must have all been lies; it was all in his head.
This woman didn’t love him, and
never would.
“Guards!”
The guards enter
and surround her, and he’s sickened as, in the course of a few minutes, she
fades from a princess, and into a criminal. Ruby, his small, impressionable
sister, bursts in, and even as he’s shouting, telling Ruby to stay away,
already he’s thinking ahead, to what he knows will come next. What will happen
when the others hear. Some will call for her execution.
And he knows no way to stop it.
Thanks Jenny for the awesome scene!
Jenny Lundquist grew up in Huntington Beach, California,
wearing glasses and wishing they had magic powers. They didn't, but they did
help her earn a degree in intercultural studies at Biola University. Jenny has
painted an orphanage in Mexico, taught English at a university in Russia, and
hopes one day to write a book at a café in Paris. Jenny and her husband live in
northern California with their two sons and Rambo, the world's whiniest cat.
Giveaway Details:
(1) Winner
will receive a $25 Amazon or Barnes &Noble Gift card and a set of THE
PRINCESS IN THE OPAL MASK and THE OPAL CROWN. US Only.
(4) Winners will receive a set of THE PRINCESS IN THE
OPAL MASK and THE OPAL CROWN. US Only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Check out the Tour Schedule for more awesome posts!
Week One:
10/20/2014- Tales of the Marvelous- Review
10/21/2014- The Reading Nook Reviews- Interview
10/22/2014- A
Dream Within A Dream- Review
10/23/2014- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post
10/24/2014- The
Paige-Turner- Review
Week Two:
10/27/2014- A
Backwards Story- Interview
10/28/2014- Bibliophilia, Please- Review
10/29/2014- Stories & Sweeties-Guest Post
10/30/2014- Jessabella Reads- Review
10/31/2014- Me,
My Shelf and I- Guest Post
