Castle in the Wilde
3 primary works • 5 total works Complete
Book 0.5
A mysterious castle. Fearsome beasts. Odd secrets. What more could a restless adventurer want?
Lord Tristan is a hero. Driving invaders from his kingdom has earned him undying gratitude-but no estate in his own homeland. Nor has his boundless energy found purpose through his travels abroad...until he hears of a hidden castle, abandoned and filled with untold treasure. Why has no one claimed this prize? The townsfolk warn of ferocious beasts. Especially the night-prowling vixicats, so vicious that no one lives to tell what they really are. Who started these absurd tales? What are they trying to hide? And what of that isolationist kingdom beyond the castle?
Beth knows her duty...knows all the constraints imposed on a proper lady. They have trammeled her childhood and will now stifle the rest of her life. Granted, her marriage must maintain the strength and purity of the noble families. Yet she loathes the man she is destined to wed, and wonders at the dirty secrets that haunt his clan. At least her own family's honor is intact. Or is it? Why are the northern lands of the kingdom forbidden?
A Castle Sealed is the prequel novella to the Castle in the Wilde series. If you like fantasy with mystery, intrigue, and romance, come and explore this secondary world with medieval undertones and the turmoil of changing cultures.
Book 1
A foreign usurper. A lady who longs for freedom. Vicious beasts who want to rip them all to shreds. Who wins?
Never one to shy from a challenge, Lord Tristan Petram took possession of a forsaken castle. His search uncovered no hint of who built it or why they abandoned such a gem. What treachery would strike the founding family from history? Still, it seems a small matter, since the generations have passed. If he and his followers can forge a life here—and hold out against ravenous vixicats—the castle and this land will be theirs. As for the nearest kingdom, they never venture beyond their border or the mysterious forest of tower trees. Except...
Beth dons a disguise and takes a forbidden ride in Tower Woods—a last fling before she bows to the dictates of her noble birth. Her fun adventure turns into a nightmare of kidnap and rescue—of sorts. Now she’s trapped in a nameless castle held by a foreign usurper who calls himself Lord Petram. Who could he be, and what will he do with her if he finds out who she really is?
Thus, Lord Petram finds himself the unwilling guardian of an injured lady who won’t give her full name. A crime he didn’t commit may bring retribution from an unknown kingdom. Do they have a claim to this castle that he now calls home? If he survives the vixicats, will an army slaughter him and his followers?
A Castle Awakened is the first novel in the Castle in the Wilde trilogy. If you like fantasy with mystery, intrigue, and romance, come and explore this secondary world with medieval undertones and the turmoil of clashing cultures.
Book 2
She loves her kingdom…and the foreign usurper they hate. How can she choose between them?
Beth finally understands. The despised foreigners are not what she believed. Nor is her noble role just a burdensome restraint. It also carries authority—and the obligation to use it wisely. Which might be more of a restraint than the proposed marriage she is evading. Now all she needs to do is convince an entire kingdom to respect the people they hate.
Before she can even try, unraveling deceptions rock her land. A duchess mysteriously dies. Atrocities in Tower Woods come to light. The governing assembly is being manipulated. The cry of Beth’s heart is the last thing anyone cares about. As for loving a despicable foreigner—intolerable!
Tristan would do anything to help Beth, but his foreign hands are tied. The only thing he can do, must do, is kill the enormous vixicats that terrorize the Wilde—beasts that have proven invincible for over a century. If he conquers them, he invites a siege to his castle. What is worse? Starving or becoming a vixicat’s meal?
How can Beth forge her newfound scrap of authority into a tool that is both subtle and powerful enough to return justice to her land? Especially when succeeding could turn the foreigner she loves into an enemy.
A Castle Contended is the second novel in the Castle in the Wilde trilogy. If you enjoy a story where wit and hope confront lies and hate, come and explore this fantastical world with medieval undertones and conflicted cultures.
Book 2.5
Condemned for a crime he didn’t commit. How can the last son of a debased duke survive treacherous exile and the king’s fury?
Everyone knows that Lord Thomas will become as vile as his three elder brothers and his father, the powerful Duke of Kaituer. Everyone except Thomas. As for the duke’s opinion, he demands Thomas’s loyalty, but he also forbids him access to the family’s questionable affairs.
When Thomas’s brothers burn an entire village, the king’s rage descends upon them. The Kaituers prepare for a siege, but the duke forces his youngest son out of the castle. Thomas must flee into a rugged forest of gigantic tower trees. He and a few friends—one especially dear—must hide in this place of fearsome legends where none dare to enter.
If only that were enough. The king’s army dares to enter too. No matter how difficult the terrain, there is only so much land between the army and an impassable river. Wasn’t it already nigh impossible to forge a new life in exile? Now they are hunted!
A Castle Lost is a novella set in the medieval fantasy world of the Castle in the Wilde series. These characters make pivotal decisions that echo through later generations. They deeply affect Lord Thomas’s grandson and namesake, who is featured in novel 3, A Castle From Ashes. You can read A Castle Lost as a stand-alone, as first-in-series, or between novels 2 and 3.
Book 3
His family was abased, and their castle destroyed. Now a hint of the king’s favor marks him for murder.
Saving the king’s life has lifted Thomas Kaituer from impoverished exile. It also earned him a title—without a scrap of authority or noble privilege. All Sir Thomas gains from his courtesy title are a few party invitations and contempt from the House of Maerton—the very rivals who drove his family from their ancestral land.
When a stranger points out the ruins of Kaituer Castle to Thomas, he cannot resist visiting the home from which his grandfather fled into exile. Now a desolate scene where all may tread—except Thomas. Was he lured here with deadly intent? Who shot that arrow at him? And why, since he is a nobody?
Hovering between the poverty he grew up with and the nobility he is denied, Thomas belongs to neither world. No land will be his, no bride will be suitable, no children will carry his name. Then the king pulls a will from the royal archives. Thomas’s great-grandmother left her descendants a small estate, also occupied by the Maerton clan. They suddenly relinquish it. Far too easy. Another trap, perhaps? But how can he decline it, when it could be the key to his future? Would it give him the right to join hands with a certain lady? If he lives long enough.
A Castle from Ashes is the final novel of the Castle in the Wilde series. If you enjoy a story where lies hide in plain sight and true freedom must be won, explore this fantastical world with medieval undertones and sparks of hope.