Prologue

The Heir

Everything that I am and everything that I have yet to become, I owe to the family I have made—for what is a queen without her court? Who would I be, or who would my rage reshape me into without my court of rebels and mate at my side to ground me?

The realm was my birthright by blood and claim, and since the moment I took my first breath in this unforgiving world, its malevolent beings have done everything in their power to rip it from my grasp.

Too long had I been forced to lurk in the shadows of the castle, never allowed to know the true love of kin. Too long had the realm been forced to bear the wrath of the wicked queen and her scorned hatred for my father. And too fucking long had I endured manipulation, trickery, and abuse from those I should have been able to trust.

The Kingdom of Velyra would be mine if it were the last thing I ever did, for the realm itself would not rest as long as my lungs breathed air.

Heir of the Realm.

Descendant of the First of the Fae.

True Heir of the Mother Goddess, Terra .

The One Who Was Promised.

Lia Solus, Captain of the Velyran army, a hidden orphan raised by the castle staff, and secret daughter of the king, was no more—for she has been mended and reforged into what she was always meant to be.

Elianna Valderre—Queen of the Realm.