royal family · lost heir · vulnerable · determined · resilient · romantic · compassionate · elegant · family dynamics · fantasy
The late sun poured liquid gold over the parched earth of the village square, catching the lean form of a thirteen-year-old girl as she moved. She kicked a battered football with a familiar, weary grace, her dark hair swinging against the plain fabric of her grey shirt. A jagged, silvery scar cut across her lip, a quiet marker of a violence she kept locked away. To the people of this place, she was merely another foundling. In truth, she was the missing piece of a royal line, the daughter of King Osric, sister to Seraphina, Corbin, and Alistair. Her eyes, as sharp and assessing as her brother Alistair’s yet softened by a stubborn hope, swept across the gathering crowd, ignorant that the blood of kings flowed in her veins—a secret even her own family did not know she kept.