Four brothers. One crown that only one of them wanted, and even he isn't sure he wanted it. Before you get to know them across the series, let me introduce the Aldric princes — and the roses they each quietly carry, because the flowers are doing more work than they look like they are.
Julian — The Heir, and the Red Rose
Red is the obvious one, and I chose it precisely because it's the obvious one. Passion, yes, but red roses have never only meant passion. They mean duty. Sacrifice. The heart given whether or not it wanted to be. That's Julian entirely: a man handed the deepest, most demanding color in the bouquet and expected to wear it without complaint.
He's the eldest, the regent, and the one everyone assumes is cold. He isn't. He governs a country, chairs committees no one else understands, speaks four languages without thinking — and then unwinds with fantasy novels, because a man who carries that much reality has earned a few dragons. I adore this about him. Remember it when he seems remote. The red rose isn't just desire. It's everything he gives up to keep wearing it.
Read Julian's story in What the Crown Requires.
Lucien — The Spare, and the White Rose
Here's the one that surprised me.
I gave Lucien white to answer Julian's red. That's all it was at first. Contrast. The spare set against the heir, one brother's color defined by the other's. And then I looked at what they symbolized and realized how completely it applied, and it stopped feeling like a design choice and started feeling like fate.
White is purity, yes, but it's also mourning. Absence. The empty space where something used to be. And for a man who was once close to his brother and now isn't, that lands harder than I planned.
But white means something else, too: devotion. And without giving too much away — as much as Lucien is at odds with Julian right now, the series will turn him into Julian's most devoted ally. The white rose was always pointing there. I just didn't know it yet.
Lucien is quiet, brilliant, a scholar of medieval history who is happiest with his glasses on and a book open. He came out more neurodivergent than I first intended, and I've grown genuinely fond of that. There's something quietly wonderful about a prince who moves through the world so differently and is no less royal for it. His book is next. I can't wait for you to understand him.
Read Lucien's story in What the Crown Costs (Coming September 18).
Nicolas — The Daredevil, and the Purple Rose
Purple is desire, and Nicolas wears it well. Perhaps too well. He's the Formula 1 driver, the one the cameras follow, fast and risk-tolerant and slightly legendary for walking away from crashes he shouldn't have. But the desire in his rose isn't only the obvious kind. It's the pull of the thing he actually wants: the track, the speed, a life that is his, away from a crown that was never realistically going to reach him.
What I love most about Nicolas is something the paddock persona hides. Underneath the noise he has a rare, steady self-knowledge. He knows exactly what he can and can't do, knows what he wants, and won't lie about it or dress it up as something more palatable. That honesty with himself is its own peace. He's never resented Julian carrying the crown and he's never pretended the racing is anything other than the thing he loves; he simply meets himself as he is. Of all four brothers, he's the one most at home in his own skin, and writing that has been pure joy.
Read Nicolas's story in What the Crown Desires (COMING 2026).
Felix — The Free Spirit, and the Yellow Rose
Yellow is the most misread rose of the four, which makes it perfect for the most misread brother.
Yellow means friendship and joy — and Felix is exactly that, genuinely happy, quick, the warmth that makes the palace feel less like a palace. But yellow has an older, sharper meaning too: unseriousness, and eventually jealousy. And all of it shapes him. The tabloids love him for his string of not-quite-serious relationships, and those will cost him more than he knows. They'll scar him, and in scarring him, make him a better man. His joy is real. His depth is realer than even I expected when I started. And the friendship in that yellow rose? Watch where it leads. His oldest friend is closer to the center of his story than he currently has any idea.
Felix's banter is, hands down, the most fun I get to write. He has layers I didn't plan and wouldn't trade.
Read Felix's story in What the Crown Desires (COMING SOON).
Four brothers, four roses
Julian gives everything to the crown. Lucien guards a devotion he hasn't admitted yet. Nicolas knows exactly who he is and refuses to pretend otherwise. Felix is still becoming the man his story needs him to be.
One of them gets his love in What the Crown Requires. The other three are coming. And if you look closely at the roses each of them wears, you'll already know a little more about where they're headed than they do.
What the Crown Requires is now available as an ebook, paperback, and as a part of Kindle Unlimited.