Sea Gypsies: The Draga Isles

A princess in search of her past. A boy driven by money. A crew that is loyal to the end.

Princess Ria is adopted, and she has lived with the acceptance that she will never know her real parents. But when she learns of the existence of her adoption document that was kept hidden from her all her life, the desire to know her past is triggered. She is determined to get her hands on it and she sets off on an adventure aboard the Opal with her childhood friend--an army lieutenant--and a crew of cunning sea gypsies. She hires this group to plan and execute a heist to retrieve the document, but when she obtains it, she finds more than what she is looking for--something that can root doubt in the people of the kingdom and threaten her brother's throne.

On her journey, she works with Gin, a sea gypsy and a concresi--one with the ability to influence tangible non-living materials. For years, he has worked on grand thievery jobs, gaining a reputation for the Opal. He is a skilled dredger, and undefeated in coin dives. Despite his past, he is strong minded but bad history had its way of sowing cynicism in him. He cares about money and his crewmates, nothing more. To him, the rich are all the same selfish and egocentric people, and he sees Ria as one of them.

Ria and Gin don't trust each other but when plans go awry, they are forced to set aside their differences to survive. Running for their lives across the Kingdom of the Draga Isles, a friendship grows between them and blooms into a forbidden passion that neither of them has expected.
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Inspired by the Bajau (nomadic sea gypsies) in the Philippines.

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Completed Draft 0
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#Fantasy
#Steampunk
#Romance
#Adventure
#YoungAdult
#Action

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#20 in #FantasyRomance (out of 23K stories) (04/30/23)
#2 in #FilipinoAuthor (05/29/23)
#12 in #Filipino (07/09/23)
#3 in #Steampunk (05/28/23)
#16 in #Heist (05/27/23)
#10 in #Gypsy (05/27/23)

New Title Idea: Diamond and Salt