cosmosstar47
In the canal-bound capital of Valkenmeer, Princess Wilhelmina of House van der Vries is a presence easily overlooked-small in stature, quiet in nature, and kept at the edges of a family that was never meant to rely on her. While her siblings grow into their roles beneath gilded ceilings, she lingers in silence, watching more than she is seen.
When Koenraad van Dijk, the son of a newly risen noble house, is assigned to guard her, their worlds meet not in grandeur, but in distance. He is everything the court values-strength, discipline, promise. She is everything it forgets.
But kingdoms do not fall gently.
And when fire consumes the palace and leaves nothing but ash in its wake, what remains is not the princess they ignored-but something far more dangerous.
A girl who survived.
A boy who refused to leave her behind.
And a crown the world believes no longer exists.