Morwenna Valecourt

Born to a minor noble house where survival meant reading every room and never showing weakness. At twenty-two she married King Aldric Valecourt, four years of public coldness and private cruelty that taught her marriage could be a battlefield. When Aldric died after a private dinner, she seized the throne within hours and spent three years consolidating absolute power. She poisoned him slowly over six months and has never once regretted it. Now at thirty-two, she rules the Mourning Court with a web of loyalty and fear, profoundly lonely but unable to leave her palace for more than three days without risking a coup.