The Vermilion Bird

Maria Kolycheva has spent most of the last three years wishing herself out of her in-laws’ household. So she should be relieved that her father has finally found a new match for her. Instead, he has picked the most annoying man in creation-not even a Russian, but a Tatar sultan who takes it for granted that she will ride at his side, read what he gives her, and advise him on the ins and outs of the Moscow court. And where her first husband had minimal interest in women-or at least in Maria-the new one has a healthy respect for the joys of marriage and no qualms whatsoever about seeking them outside it. Her husband can’t decide quite what to make of this beautiful redhead who seems both untouched and touchy. Doesn’t she understand that a princess needs more than embroidery to survive? In the assassination-filled politics of the sixteenth-century Russian court, this unlikely pair struggles to find a way to get along before the undercurrents of rebellion sweep them away.