The Emperor's Caged Bride
A Chinese Historical Romance
She was forced to marry her dead cousin's husband.
When sixteen-year-old Cui Jiao is torn from the arms of the man she loves and given to the Crown Prince as a replacement bride, she enters a palace still haunted by her predecessor's ghost. On their wedding night, he covers her eyes and whispers the wrong name.
As Empress, A-Jiao learns to mimic the dead woman's smile, brew her perfume, and recite her favorite poems — but nothing she does can make the Emperor see her as anything more than a shadow. When she dares to protect the man she once loved, the Emperor's jealousy turns savage: political purges destroy her family, and the gilded palace becomes a prison with no key.
Confined for years in the cold splendor of Weiyang Palace, A-Jiao must decide how much she is willing to sacrifice — her pride, her freedom, her life — to protect the people who still need her. But what if the cage was built not from hatred, but from a love too twisted to speak its name?
A completed novel of palace intrigue, impossible love, and a devastating final twist that changes everything you thought you knew.
