A Court of Defiance

War is coming.

Ulfric, Schleswig's newly crowned king, nicknamed 'The Barbaric', is in trouble for refusing to bend the knee to the emperor of the Selkur Empire as his vassal. But Ulfric has few allies both outside and within Schleswig. Corruption and treachery are rife, and too many of Ulfric's nobles are taking the emperor's coin.

It's into this murky world that Ulfric has created that the difficult Edith of Freidberg has been unwillingly thrust when she discovers she has unknowingly been betrothed to Ulfric by her father. She must learn who she can trust when no one appears trustworthy, and the only advice she's given is that she has no choice but to marry Ulfric, a man who both disgusts and inspires her.

What kind of queen does Ulfric want Edith to be, an advisor or broodmare? And will Ulfric survive defying the emperor?

Paul Willson is from near Reading, UK, and writes a mixture of fantasy novellas and full-length works, notably the Gods & Runes series, The Demon and The Raven, and The Dance of The Blacksmith and The Huntress.

He is married with two children. When writing, his Bengal cat Nala keeps him company.

Before he started writing, he worked for 25 years in the IT industry as a Linux Platform engineer. After redundancy during the pandemic, he began writing to keep himself sane while searching for a new job. At the end of the pandemic, while working in a new position, he kept up his passion for writing until he took the plunge to try to become a full-time author.

When not writing, Paul is either cooking for his family or practising Jujitsu, for which he has earned a black belt. After a long search for his reading time, Paul has discovered it in the quiet after breakfast, when his children have gone to school.

Paul has a newsletter which you can sign up for: https: //tinyurl.com/4krkx8e5