A cursed girl trapped in a tower must choose between a prince who promises to free her and an immortal knight kept magically emotionless in this romantic fantasy from Margaret Rogerson, the New York Times bestselling author of Sorcery of Thorns and Vespertine.
Intrigued? Well we are delighted to be revealing the cover for Knight Eternal by Margaret Rogerson, which releases on April 6th 2027 and now available for preorder. PLUS you can also read on for a Q&A with Margaret AND an excerpt from the first chapter!
Ophelia has spent the past ten years locked away in a tower, haunted by a deadly curse, with only her pet dragonlet for company. She connects with the outside world through her books, her spyglass, and the experiments that have become her windows to everything she cannot reach.
In a kingdom where magic has faded to nearly nothing, a powerful curse like Ophelia’s is a mystery that soon attracts the interest of the crown prince. Prince Tristan is handsome and charming, and his arrival allows Ophelia to descend from her tower for the first time in years. But as Tristan sweeps her up in a whirlwind courtship, she suspects he is keeping a secret from her about her curse—and finds herself growing ever closer to the knight he has assigned to keep her safe. Clad in dragonscale armor, bound by an unbreakable enchantment to serve the crown, the knight is feared by all who cross his path. Only Ophelia looks closely enough to glimpse the noble soul beneath, imprisoned by the cruelty of his vow.
Yet love cannot exist between them. For as Ophelia makes a discovery that could alter her fate and the fate of the whole kingdom, the knight’s enchantment demands his uncompromising loyalty to Prince Tristan. Even if that forces him to betray his lady…and break her heart.
Hi, Margaret! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello, and thank you so much for hosting Knight Eternal’s cover reveal! I’m incredibly thrilled to be here. I’m a New York Times bestselling author of mostly standalone fantasy novels for young adults. My most popular book, Sorcery of Thorns, has been translated into over a dozen languages. When I’m not reading or writing, I enjoy hiking, watching documentaries, and teaching tricks to my one-eyed rescue cat, Commodore.
Knight Eternal is out April 6th 2027! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
A Knight/Lady forbidden romance.
What can readers expect?
For this book, I wanted to capture the elements of a classic forbidden love story between a lady and her sworn knight protector, with all the devotion, restraint, formality, and unspoken yearning that the dynamic entails. Readers can expect a slow burn, dual POV romance in which the mere touch of a hand has the intensity of a kiss. The story takes place against a fairy tale-esque backdrop replete with castles, ivy-covered ruins, dragons (including small dragon species flown in this setting’s equivalent of falconry), and a deadly curse that strikes at midnight.
Where did the inspiration for Knight Eternal come from?
I’ve wanted to write a book about a knight for what feels like an eternity! I specifically wanted to explore the idea of an immortal knight who was bound by a vow that included not being able to remove his armor, since I’ve always been drawn to that trope (the Mandalorian being a well-known example). So the Knight’s character came first, long before anything else. I came up with the idea of a story to insert him into all the way back in 2022 while looking at the painting The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton. All at once, his world expanded to include a forbidden romance with a lady, and a tower with a spiral stair as a place of central importance to the setting. It took me years to finish the book, which evolved through several different iterations, including a first draft as an adult novella written solely from the Knight’s perspective. But that moment was when it all began.
Tell us about the cover!
Where can I possibly start? Charlie Bowater is a master illustrator capable of rendering characters with incredible emotion and dramatic impact. Her work on my covers has been the luckiest development of my career. She and the art director, Sonia Chaghatzbanian, are an absolute dream team. I’ve been staring at this artwork for months and I’m still in awe of it.
Here, I love how formidable the Knight looks, but as the viewer, you can tell that his menacing appearance must be misleading to some degree, because Ophelia clearly has complete trust in him as he carries her in his arms. Since Ophelia has been physically impacted by the effects of her curse, he carries her like that quite often in the book. And by the way Charlie has illustrated her, you can see the intelligence, open-mindedness, curiosity, and determination that define her personality shining through on her face. He might be the one carrying her, but she’s the one in control. I love that contrast and the immediate sense of intrigue that it creates for the viewer.
Are there any other 2027 releases you have your eye on or that our readers should have on their radar?
If I’m allowed to cheat and include a couple of books that are coming out later this year, I’m very excited for Adam, Mine by Kayla Ancrum and Hawk & Sparrow by Ayana Gray. I’m still in the process of assembling my 2027 TBR as a consequence of being an internet hermit, but so far I’m greatly anticipating Emily Wilde’s History of Dark Faerie by Heather Fawcett.
EXCERPT
Chapter One
The letter in Ophelia’s ink-stained fingers made no sense whatsoever. She read it a third time, just to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. She hadn’t devised any new chemistry experiments recently, but occasionally the fumes lingered.
His Highness Crown Prince Tristan requests the honor of attending upon Lady Ophelia Argent, proclaimed the letter’s script, its gilded ink shimmering against thick, cream-colored paper. As she drew it closer to her nose, the blurry words resolved into sharper focus. He has long heard tales of her unsurpassed beauty and charm, and it is his dearest wish to at last meet her in person.
Ophelia glanced down at her dressing gown, which had several holes in it and was spattered with the birdlike droppings of her tiercel, Credence. “He must not have heard about the time a curtain came alive and tried to throttle me,” she remarked. “Or the incident with the medieval great-ax. That one was especially bad, don’t you think?” Frankly, it was a wonder they hadn’t heard the screaming all the way from the palace.
Ophelia’s aunt, uncle, and four cousins stood in the doorway of her room, staring. With the exception of Violet, the youngest, they seldom visited Ophelia’s tower. In fact, this was the first time that all six of them had stood in her chamber simultaneously. Their rare convergence was the result of the remarkable turn of events that had begun that morning when someone had slid the envelope under Ophelia’s door, its paper sealed with the palace’s crest of dueling dragons in sky-blue wax. Who had done it still remained a mystery.
Aunt Miriam paled at the reminder of the great-ax. “We’re sure the palace has sent this letter by mistake, dear.” She spoke in a sweet, coaxing voice, as one might negotiate with a wild animal hiding beneath a bed. “Prince Tristan is soon to come of age, you see, and he must secure a marriage before he can be crowned. His advisors seem to have mistaken you for the eldest daughter of House Argent. You can turn down the request, of course,” she went on a little desperately, perhaps seeing that Ophelia wasn’t convinced. “No one would think less of you. After all, your condition is so awfully taxing. In fact, you needn’t even reply. Isn’t that right, Lord Argent?”
Ophelia sent an inquisitive glance at Lord Argent, wondering if he thought it was possible that the prince’s advisors had gotten her mixed up with Amaryllis. At nineteen, Ophelia and Amaryllis were the same age, but otherwise had little in common. Amaryllis took after her father, dark-haired and stern-featured. Ophelia might pass for Aunt Miriam’s daughter instead of her niece, having inherited the same fair hair and wintry pallor. However, the fact that the Argents had taken Ophelia in after her parents ’deaths was common knowledge, as was the fact that she was dreadfully cursed and had spent the past ten years locked away in a tower.
Ophelia didn’t expect Lord Argent to come to her rescue. He was absent for long stretches of time attending to his duties as lord of the Mosswood, and a result, she barely knew him. Of the two, Aunt Miriam unquestionably ruled the household. Whenever he returned home, Lord Argent deferred to his wife’s wishes like a drakehound being bullied by a lapdog. Even so, Ophelia was surprised to watch him uncomfortably look away instead of replying.
They want me to decline, she thought. In fact, had someone not slid this letter beneath my door, I may never have even known it existed. And then with dawning amazement, What if it isn’t the first? The prince could have tried to contact me before, and I would be none the wiser. Is that why someone snuck this letter to my tower?
She searched her cousins ’faces, but found no clues. Amaryllis stood gloomily by the door with a book tucked beneath her arm, avoiding Ophelia’s eyes. Flora and Poppy, the twins, hovered behind Lord Argent on the landing, their blonde, beribboned heads turning to gawk at the bundles of dried herbs hanging from the rafters, the anatomical diagrams of dissected drakes fixed to the stone walls, and Ophelia’s soiled, threadbare dressing gown. It wasn’t clear which of these horrified them the most.
Meanwhile Violet crouched in front of the bookshelves that lined the walls, making faces at her reflection in a jar of pickled salamanders.
“I suppose I would have to come down from my tower to meet him,” Ophelia ventured, struggling to imagine a prince braving her room’s barely-navigable clutter of books and beakers.
“That’s right,” Aunt Miriam hastened to reply. “And those terrible things would start happening again. I would hate to see you in danger, dear. Why, merely taking a fright could be disastrous for your health….”
Her exhortations faded as Ophelia’s mind drifted into the past. For a moment she was a child again, shadows stretching crooked tendrils across the parquet as she wandered Castle Argent’s ancient halls in her nightgown. Mists gathered in her presence; mirrors cracked down the center of her reflection. Eerie whispers trickled from the floorboards, and antique swords rattled threateningly above mantelpieces as she passed.
All of that had stopped the day Lord and Lady Argent shut her away in her tower, a decision that no doubt saved her life. Her curse’s daytime manifestations were disturbing yet harmless, but at the stroke of midnight, when it reached the height of its power, its dark magic would stop at nothing to see her dead.
