Her defiance will reshape history.
Holly Greenspire has watched helplessly as her kin suffered. Ashen ghouls shamble over their roads, and deserters from the Hillexian Empire’s army are harassing their villages. During the springtime thaw, a mysterious archaeologist known only as Minos arrives. He promises that the restoration of an ancient aristocracy will bring peace and prosperity to the Zellos Forest’s people.
The forest’s elves quickly begin singing praises for the return of the glorious Greenspire Dynasty, and so on the fateful evening of her mother’s coronation, only Holly is brave and furious enough to protest the new regime. Branded a traitor by her kin, she must flee her homeland, disguise herself as a tutor, and seek shelter in a distant country estate. Her wild tongue and stubborn attitude lead her to clash with Julius Stilguard, the estate’s stoic and rigorous master, but their mutual hostility soon gives way to an unexpected intimacy.
Together as one, will they be strong enough to uncover the true nature of the tyranny that has corrupted Holly’s homeland?
Magic and mysticism meet adventure and intrigue in this open-door romantic fantasy for fans of T. Kingfisher and Carissa Broadbent.
