Deception's Pawn

Deception's Pawn by Esther M. Friesner
386 pages

Maeve, princess of Connacht, seems to have won her freedom. Her father, the High King, is finally allowing her to explore the world beyond his castle. But Maeve soon discovers that being the High King's daughter doesn't protect her from bullying or the attention of unwelcome suitors.

Struggling to navigate a new court, she must discourage the advances of her father's rival, who is vying with her host's son for her hand in marriage. Maeve is a pawn trapped between these two boys. Her bold defiance will bring her to the brink of disaster, but her clever gamble may also lead to her independence. Though she faces danger and intrigue, Maeve will also discover what kind of person-and queen-she's destined to become.

I didn't enjoy this as some of Esther Friesner's other Princess of Myth stories. This one, as one reviewer put it, was basically "Mean Girls of the Iron Age" - Maeve is placed in another household and her other female companions can be quite nasty. I would have preferred some serious sword slinging to mud flinging.