Price of Innocence

In an unconventional plot, the queen enlists four criminals to conceal her role in the kingdom’s fall. There are only two options: obey or forfeit their lives. However, when they steal an infant child in the night and destroy his family, they quickly realize how flimsy the queen’s justice really is. By then, it's too late, and both the child and the adults are ensnared in the queen's realm.

The infant, Sonder, is the last known descendant of a blessing given by The Goddess of Stars. He becomes the queen’s ward to continue his father’s bloody legacy. Growing up alongside him is a Lorist Princess named Rhianwyn, who is similarly held captive. Despite the joy they find as children, they grow to realize they’ve become ensnared in a war against their lineages.

Standing between them and the queen’s ambitions is the last living knight of an order sworn to protect the Goddess’s blessing, and the queen’s right hand. When he discovers a sliver of truth, he convinces the four to defy the queen to protect the children. But when the lines blur between who they were and who they can become in her shadow, their alliance frays. They grapple with what it means to be good when they're the villains bearing the torches rewriting the kingdom's history.

Michelle is a Merchant Mariner by the demands of her bank account, and an eclectic creative every waking moment otherwise.Nearly every story idea of hers is woven while traversing the Rocky Mountains or driving through the Western United States. While travel is in her bones, the US has proven an incredible muse. Her travel goals are to drive down the Baja peninsula and then up the Pacific Coast Highway until it ends.Michelle's debut novel, Price of Innocence, is an idea that has steeped for many years. A nod to her love of fantasy and her childhood desire to read a story that didn't exist. Her travels, mistakes, and trials have tempered her, which the story so badly needed. It's a book filled with similar trials and moments of friendship, even though the story is from the villains' perspective.