The Slave Queen
About the book
The army is defeated. The king—her father—is missing. And the enemy stands at the gates of the capital. This is the grim reality Agatha wakes up to on the second day of her reign. Her only available weapon? Cunning. And with it, the young queen is forced to offer herself into voluntary servitude to the southern upstart, the bastard and barbarian, Sherl. The clash between their wills will be fiercer than any battle between armies—especially when feelings start to interfere. But in the heat of this war of hearts and minds, will they notice the true enemy approaching? (A mature fairytale set in a fictional kingdom. Any resemblance to real events or history is purely coincidental.)
Abstract of the book "The Slave Queen"
The army is defeated. The king—her father—is missing. And the enemy stands at the gates of the capital. This is the grim reality Agatha wakes up to on the second day of her reign. Her only available weapon? Cunning. And with it, the young queen is forced to offer herself into voluntary servitude to the southern upstart, the bastard and barbarian, Sherl. The clash between their wills will be fiercer than any battle between armies—especially when feelings start to interfere. But in the heat of this war of hearts and minds, will they notice the true enemy approaching? (A mature fairytale set in a fictional kingdom. Any resemblance to real events or history is purely coincidental.)
308 comments
oksana29.03.2026, 23:58I read this story with great pleasure, even though it’s about fictional kingdoms without parallels to historical facts. It captivates with the revelation of the characters of two strong personalities and the emergence of their respect and feelings for each other. The cold-blooded and cruel conqueror of foreign lands showed remarkable patience and endurance to win the heart of the defiant and proud queen of the neighboring country. Thank you, Ustyna! Each of your books is an incredible delight for the soul!
anna-vovik22.10.2025, 14:20Thank you for the wonderful story.
ustina-cal22.10.2025, 14:53Anna Vovik, Thank you!
nataliya-parfenyuk17.10.2025, 17:57I love all your stories, Ustyna! Not a single one has disappointed me yet. And thank you for this one too!
ustina-cal17.10.2025, 18:15Nataliya Parfenyuk, It's incredibly nice to hear that, thank you!
tetiana-bidna24.07.2025, 21:13I absolutely love this book, reread it with pleasure!
ustina-cal24.07.2025, 21:15Tetyana Bidna, Thank you, I'm very glad to hear that!)
natalia-xrapakova24.07.2025, 11:33Thank you, Ustyna, for the interesting story. Queen Agatha and King Sherl have touched my heart. It was very exciting to watch the events unfold. Wishing you inspiration, I look forward to new stories about the Middle Ages. I will definitely read more of your books. I’ll look for something interesting and intriguing among your works. I’m sure there’s still a lot of incredible things waiting for me.
ustina-cal24.07.2025, 12:05Natalia Khrapakova, Thank you for such a nice review! This is my only book in this genre, but if you love historical novels, I recommend the short story "There Will Be Only Nights." The rest of my works are contemporary romance novels. If you liked the clash of characters between Agatha and Sherl, I suggest "Alone with a Deceiver." For a modern, spicy 18+ reinterpretation of a master-slave relationship, check out "Hurt Me." A forced marriage, a visiting guest, and a strong-willed heroine (plus the atmosphere of a Transcarpathian winery) can be found in "His Quiet Dream." Thank you again, and I invite you to explore my other books❤️
nadiia-skripka11.07.2025, 20:04I started writing a comment, but got distracted, didn’t finish it, and accidentally hit the "add" button. I wanted to delete it to write it fully, but you already responded to it. :) Still, I’ll express what I intended to say. I like the way you write, Ms. Ustyna. And the story about Sherl and Agatha is captivating in one way. They went from hostility to love, found understanding both as rulers of their kingdoms and as a loving husband and wife. Everything is good for them. The king loves and protects his wife. The people love the queen, who contributed to the de facto abolition of slavery. An heir was born into the royal family. But there’s another side to the coin. Agatha’s punishment with a whip (even if Sherl later healed the wounds he himself inflicted). The threat to brand the queen-slave (perhaps Sherl wouldn’t have done it, but he pressured Agatha until the very end, intimidating and humiliating her). I understand that it’s the Middle Ages, with cruel customs. Still... But it’s good that everything ended well. And Agatha warned Sherl that it might have been possible to whip a slave, but that trick won’t work with a queen. In short, there should be different literary genres to keep reading interesting. And your books, dear Author, are interesting to read. Wishing you an easy pen and inspiration in your future work.
ustina-cal11.07.2025, 20:21Nadiya Skrypka, This book indeed contains harsh moments because I tried to set it in a different era with a different attitude towards women. Sherl is not a valiant knight but a cruel conqueror, and such people do not change easily (if they change at all). I didn’t want to make this book tenderly romantic because sometimes I want to write something different for contrast. Thank you for your feedback!
- nadiia-skripka11.07.2025, 19:13
The book is interesting.
ustina-cal11.07.2025, 19:15Nadiya Skrypka, Thank you!
mila-grei29.05.2025, 20:25Your book is very atmospheric, I love this genre
ustina-cal29.05.2025, 20:33Mila Grey, Thank you
mari-tomych21.05.2025, 18:44Nice.
ustina-cal21.05.2025, 18:51Mari Tomych, Thank you!
natasha-volodimirivna09.02.2025, 20:02And so it happened, the only unread book is now read) The girl on the cover looks somewhat like you, Ustyna. An interesting fairy tale. Well, the clash of two personalities is something, but I was pleasantly surprised by the conqueror king Sherl: he fell in love and married such a stubborn woman. It was even unexpected that it was his calculation for his action - her counteraction - regarding marriage in a year. Oh, Agatha is such a stubborn woman))) A story for the weekend to recharge.
ustina-cal09.02.2025, 20:10Natasha Volodimirivna, Do I look like her?) Hm, I wouldn’t have thought so)) But maybe it’s more noticeable from the outside)) Thank you, I’m glad to hear that you’ve read everything❤️
iuliia08.02.2025, 17:10Oh, what a heavy story for me... It's hard to read about humiliation, whips, and branding. It stirs up an inner feminine resistance and resentment right until the very end. But today in the blog, there was a very tempting snippet, impossible to pass by ) Thank you ) these few hours were very emotional and full of feelings for me. Wishing you success!
ustina-cal08.02.2025, 17:13Yuliya, Oh, I'm sincerely glad that the book gave you a few emotional hours) I really understand you, I experienced similar emotions with Agatha myself) Thank you!
mariia-sevcenko30.10.2024, 07:05Incredible book!!! Thank you
ustina-cal30.10.2024, 07:53Maria Shevchenko, Thank you for the feedback!
ira-sitkovska16.02.2024, 15:54Finished reading) Got a bit confused at the end with Agatha's origins and her grandmother, had to reread)) then the puzzle came together. It also explained the Queen's dissimilarity to her sisters, and, purely formally, settled the score with Sherl)). Thank you for another interesting book with useful narratives about relationships between men and women!)
ustina-cal16.02.2024, 19:05Ira Sitkovska, Thank you for reading and leaving a review for another one of my books❤️
- ira-sitkovska09.02.2024, 21:25
It seems to me that this work slightly touches on the theme of the novel "Hurt Me" ) What should I use - tenderness?) Let's play master and slave a bit more..
ustina-cal09.02.2024, 21:36Ira Sitkovska, don't you think, it's really true) These two books have a lot in common)
- ira-sitkovska07.02.2024, 13:12
I've reached the medieval cruelty... didn't think Sherl would go this far! Sigh, but she immediately wants to make amends! The Queen is very progressive for her time! A bit of a feminist even) I liked her explanation of what it means to be a married queen; in our time, remnants of such lack of rights still exist, for example, in Japan, where a princess is just a title, while boys are treated like precious treasures! Diving further into the story!)
ustina-cal07.02.2024, 19:30Ira Sitkovska, Sooo, Agatha is very progressive for her time)) Regarding medieval cruelty... Sherl is capable of many things, but let's see if he can continue to be cruel to Agatha) Thank you))