Ember, a Cinderella Retelling

THREE FORBIDDEN MEN. ONE RELUCTANT HEROINE.

Their touch threatens my control. My heart betrays my mind.

My name is Ember-you might know me as Cinderella, though there are no glass slippers in my story, only the desperate need to control every aspect of my carefully ordered world.

After a childhood that left me with scars both visible and hidden, I've built my sanctuary in the clean lines and precise measurements of cartography, where every border is defined and nothing happens by chance.

OCD isn't just a quirk for me-it's the armor I wear against a world that once shattered me. My spotless office in Sweetland is my kingdom, my cleaning rituals the magic spells that keep the darkness at bay.

Men? They're walking disasters waiting to happen. Unpredictable. Messy. Dangerous.

Until Aimes Padmoore walks through my door, shattering my defenses with nothing more than a crooked smile and an ancient map that once belonged to the legendary Blue Faerie. His presence sets my nerves on edge-not with anxiety, but with an unwelcome awareness that pulses through my body like a forbidden current.

"Just decode it," I tell myself. "Then he'll leave, and order will return."

But Aimes doesn't leave. He returns, bringing with him Prince Blake Nonpereil himself-heir to Sweetland's throne and notorious heartbreaker whose aristocratic features mask a predatory hunger I recognize the moment his eyes meet mine.

Two men. Two threats to the walls I've built.

I reject their request to accompany them on their quest with every ounce of my being.

Then comes Vaughn-dark and dangerous where the others are light, with scars that mirror my own and a ruthlessness that sends ice through my veins. Unlike the others, he doesn't ask. He threatens the fragile peace I've created for my stepfamily, using the guilt I still carry as his weapon.

Suddenly, I'm thrust into the nightmare of travel-dirt, disorder, and three men whose presence makes it impossible to breathe, let alone maintain my rituals. Each night in camp becomes a battle between my compulsions and survival, between the demons in my mind and the growing awareness of the men who watch me with something far more dangerous than pity.

Aimes, whose quiet patience creates space for my rituals without judgment.

Blake, whose princely arrogance gradually reveals a man desperate to escape the gilded cage of expectation, who recognizes my prison because he lives in one of his own.

And Vaughn, the enforcer whose cruelty melts away in unguarded moments, revealing glimpses of a soul perhaps more damaged than my own.

As we venture deeper into the Anoka desert in search of the second map, boundaries blur beneath the relentless sun.

Control slips through my fingers like desert sand, replaced by something far more terrifying: desire. Not just for one forbidden man, but for three-each awakening different parts of the woman I've never allowed myself to be.

In a world where I've always feared the messiness of human connection, I now face the ultimate chaos-a heart divided in three directions, and a destiny that will either save Fantasia or leave me shattered beyond repair.

The story arc spans multiple books, but each one features a new princess (in reading order): Snow White, Goldilocks, The Little Mermaid, Rose Red, Sleeping Beauty, Tinkerbell, Cinderella, Little Bo-Peep, Belle, & Red Riding Hood

PLEASE NOTE: These books are meant to be read in order, although each story features a different princess, their stories are all tied together.

This series is for you if you love:
Reverse Harem Fairytale
Touch Her and Die
Obsessive Men who are ALL IN
Forced Proximity
Captive Romance
Enemies to Lovers
Forbidden Romance
Alpha Males and Strong Heroines