SOLVED. Fantasy novel published before 2000 (I think), protagonist rescues princess, marries her and is awarded lands, but rescuing her unleashed a curse and the lands are haunted? [s]

[Orion]

I can't for the life of me remember what it was called or who wrote it, except that the word "red" is associated with it in my mind. Maybe that was part of the title, or the cover was red?

There was also a bit where they're rebuilding a neglected (castle?), and one night the protagonist sees the moonlight streaming in through the windows. The next day he realizes they haven't even built that part yet and it was the past/future ghost of the building?

[Daphne]

Nobody's Son by Sean Stewart maybe?

[Orion]

Daphne wrote: "Nobody's Son by Sean Stewart maybe?"

Yes! That's it. The 'red' I was thinking of must have been the Red Keep mentioned in the description :)

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Elizabeth--just an fyi for you, but you are the second person to search for this book. If you want to read/check out the other listing, hit the Bookshelf selection over to the right and then do a search for the book in it. After that, hit "edit" which will bring up the box that shows the links for the threads that searched for it. Copy the first link into your browser and it'll take you there.