She loves her kingdom…and the foreign usurper they hate. How can she choose between them? Beth finally understands. What she learned in her early years is false. 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 has to do is convince an entire kingdom to respect the people they hate. Not likely. Before she can even try, a duchess mysteriously dies. Atrocities in Tower Woods come to light. The governing assembly is being manipulated. Buried secrets stand between Beth's mother and the healing she desperately needs. 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 to 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 gates. What is better? 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 of wit and hope, confronting lies and hate, come and explore this fantastical world with medieval undertones and conflicted cultures.