Under The Sword (The Rival Courts) by Luv Lubker

Under The Sword
(The Rival Courts)
By Luv Lubker

Publication Date: July 14th, 2025
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages: 414
Genre: Historical Fiction

From acclaimed Victorian historical author, Luv Lubker, the author of "Under His Spell" comes the continuing romance of the Princess Royal Victoria and Frederick III of Prussia.

Join Queen Victoria's eldest daughter and her husband, future German Emperor Frederick III in this third installment of The Rival Courts family saga, as they climb the treacherous path to their dream of German unification in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.

In the calm after the storm, Vicky and Fritz have it all: a devoted marriage, a growing family, and the promise of a bright future. But Fritz's Uncle Karl lies in wait behind the scenes, hatching his newest plot. A shocking outcome of Vicky's Royal duties will bring fresh doubts to Fritz's heart, and his fatherhood.

As personal tragedy strikes and shakes them to their core, Fritz is forced to lead the largest battle history has ever seen. One which could change the face of Europe forever.

Vicky's best friend struggles to shield her daughters from the sinister force that seeks to control them. The youngest shares her grandfather's uncanny ability to know the truth behind others' motives. But can she see the truth in him? In such a dangerous world, what heroic role will this small child play?

Can they escape the danger and betrayal that lurks in every corner as they travel to the icy expanse of Russia, the peaceful Mediterranean shores, and the vast Eastern deserts?

Will Vicky and Fritz's love and marriage survive a mysterious illness, or will Uncle Karl's conspiracies tear them apart for good?

Fans of Clare McHugh's A Most English Princess, Mary Hart Perry's The Shadow Princess, and Daisy Goodwin's Victoria will be swept away by this gripping tale of love, war, and intrigue. With rich historical detail and deeply human struggles, Under the Sword, the third installment of The Rival Courts saga, brings to life the triumphs and tragedies in a fight against a nefarious trade which flourished in the shadows of the Royal court. A must-read for lovers of Victorian-era royal fiction.

Excerpt

The carriage drove on, almost silently, the padded wheels making soft noises in the grass and autumn leaves. There had not yet been any snow. Everything was black; every shining part of the harness was covered; the coachman was dressed in dull black. Four cloaked figures sat inside, a young woman dressed in deepest mourning, her face buried in her handkerchief, and, huddled next to her, were three little girls. A single small trunk sat behind them.

“Mama,” the eldest girl said, “Where are we going?”

“I do not know yet, Mariechen. We must arrive in Anhalt if we can, and I shall decide further then.”

“Is Charlotta in the trunk?” the youngest girl asked quietly, as if speaking to herself.

“What do you mean, Louischen, how would she be?”

“The little girl in the glass over my bed. I always kiss her goodnight. And I didn’t… before we left.” The little girl tried to control a sob.

“Oh,” the other girl groaned, rubbing her eyes. She had fallen asleep between the other two. “Mama, can we not stop? I think I’m going to be sick,” she murmured.

“No, Ebi, we must go on, as far as we can tonight. And I want you to be very careful when we do stop. Stay together, and don’t call each other by your names – but do not use your titles either. We must think of some other names to use. We don’t want anyone to recognize you.”

“But, we will go home, won’t we, Mama?” Louischen looked up at her, her big eyes filling with tears again. “Will we see Aunty Vicky and Uncle Fritz again before we go on? Why were they crying when they came here? Why were you crying, Mama?”

“Ach, meine lieblings, what can I tell them?” the woman sobbed to herself. She thought of the goodbye which had taken place a couple of hours before, when she had embraced her friends and cousins, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, for what might have been the last time. “Gott be with you, am wiedersehen, Marianne,” Fritz had said, with the kindly look he always had for her as he squeezed her hand, but there had been sorrow in his eyes at the same time. Vicky had thrown her arms around Marianne impulsively, and kissed the little girls goodbye, clinging particularly to Louischen.

Marianne looked down at her three daughters with a lump in her throat; three such small, pitifully helpless morsels of humanity. Ebi, thankfully, had not been sick. Marianne’s heart twisted at the sight of her sweet little face as her head leaned on her sister’s shoulder, her mouth dropping open as she drifted off again.

She sadly shook her head. No, she thought, you will never see Aunty Vicky and Uncle Fritz again. She covered her face with her hands. She could never bring her little girls back to Berlin as long as her husband and his father lived.

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Luv Lubker

Luv Lubker began life in the Animal World, researching creatures great and small since before she can remember, and earning her degree in chicken psychology by age twelve. Not long after, she immigrated to the Victorian era, where she has lived half her life in close company with the Brontë sisters and made friends with Queen Victoria’s extended family, whom she now knows quite as well as her own kin.

Born in a cattle trough in the Appalachian Mountains, Luv currently resides in Texas’ Great Plains when visiting the modern world. When she isn’t writing or reading, she delights in preparing and savoring gourmet raw food with her family and exploring nature on long bike rides. Her special abilities include researching in seven languages and riding a unicycle since age seven.

Luv’s research delves into the unwritten stories that history left behind. Through unpublished letters, altered manuscripts, and deeply buried secrets, she reveals emotional truths concealed beneath the era’s refined exterior. Her novels give voice to the silenced, reveal what Victorians were taught to suppress and what their biographers chose to omit, tracing invisible scars that shaped lives, choices, and history itself.

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