Book excerpt: The Incredible True Story of Two Girls in the Seventeen-Hundreds Who Become the Powers Behind the Thrones of the World's Greatest Empires The fulfillment of an outrageous prediction seals the fates of two cousins in this true story that begins on a Caribbean sugar plantation and careens wildly towards the thrones of two empires. Innocent Aimée refuses to believe she might ever have to face the intrigue and evil that lurks beneath the exotic beauty and opulence of the Ottoman Empire. Rose mistakenly believes that her marriage to an aristocratic French lieutenant will insure her place in Parisian society. Both will be proven wrong. This first book in Zia Wesley’s The Veil and the Crown series tells the beginning of the extraordinary true story of Aimée Dubucq de Rivery and her cousin, Rose Tascher de La Pagerie...both destined to be queens. Publisher's Note: This is an extraordinarily well-researched novel that is true to the period. As such, there is explicit sexual and violent content that, while typical to the era, is most appropriate for adult readers. The Veil and the Crown, in series order: The Stolen Girl The French Sultana “I lingered over and savored the vivid descriptions and found it absorbing, historically interesting, well researched and constantly enticing. It was as if Zia took me by the hand and we followed the heroine through all her adventures. Scheherazade, eat your heart out!” - Lorain Fox Davis, Grammy winner and educator