anearthling10
Raven has spent her whole life surviving by one rule: stay small.
Stay quiet. Stay useful. Never give her father a reason to notice her.
But when Raven accidentally earns a perfect score on the kingdom's most impossible espionage exam, her worst nightmare comes true. Thrust into the palace under the hawkish tutelage of Queen Adella, a ruthless monarch who has torn kingdoms in two just to rebuild them in her iron fist image of absolute perfection. She destroys anyone who doesn't fit that image - anyone with the forbidden Outcast Gene. Raven has heard the stories, and now she's expected to do the same.
The problem is: Raven carries the Outcast Gene herself.
For the first time in her life, someone finally sees her as more than something to control. Addison, an awkward but endlessly kind royal guard, makes Raven wonder if there's more to life than survival - more to her than the frightened girl she was raised to be.
And when Raven uncovers the truth about two isolated princesses - Brittnie, who has already begun to buck to the system, and Sparrow who has no idea her entire life is a life - trapped inside the palace walls, she has a choice. Either continue to allow herself to be a weapon, or use everything she's learned to tear the system down once and for all.
But as Raven is pulled into an underground rebellion and she helps the world's princesses flee the only lives they've ever known, they discover more than just dark genetic secrets, but how far Adella is willing to go to keep up what she's building.
Including the secrets buried inside Raven's own past.
Because the kingdom's perfect royal family is built on lies. The princesses may be more connected to Raven than anyone realizes. And soon, Raven understands what Addison has been trying to telling her all along. Her gentleness is not weakness, but something hiding something far more dangerous than their queen ever intended:
A girl powerful enough to bring an entire kingdom to its knees.