

Now she spends her time writing and taking care of her husband and two daughters near Huntsville, Alabama. She has taught children with special needs in Georgia and Tennessee, and English to adults in Germany and Ukraine. She earned her bachelor’s degree in special education from The University of Alabama. Melanie Dickerson is the author of The Healer’s Apprentice and The Merchant’s Daughter, both Christy Award finalists, winner of The National Reader’s Choice Award for 2010’s Best First Book, and winner of the 2012 Carol Award in Young Adult fiction.

Now both must not only protect each other from the dangers around them - they must also protect their hearts. When the pair flee to the Cottage of the Seven, they find help-but also find their feelings for each other have grown. Though romance is impossible-she is his brother’s future wife, and Gabe himself is betrothed to someone else-he promises himself he will see the mission through, no matter what. This could be Sophie’s one chance at freedom-but can she trust another person to keep her safe? Gabe defied his parents Rose and Wilhelm by going to find Sophie, and now he believes they had a right to worry: the girl’s inner and outer beauty has enchanted him. Then a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle, claiming she is betrothed to his older brother, and everything twists upside down. Sophie desperately wants to get away from her stepmother’s jealousy, and believes escape is her only chance to be happy.
