The Garden's Only Flower

Princess Lamia has always sworn that her duty to her kingdom, Niveria, must come before everything else. She was raised to carry the weight of diplomacy on her shoulders, to calm storms in courtrooms, and to quiet her own desires if it meant peace for her people. Even if it meant sacrificing everything. Even if it meant she could never inherit the throne.

Crown Prince Milo of Avira has long lived behind silent walls. He moves through his kingdom with quiet conviction, speaking only when necessary, feeling only in secret. His heart has never belonged to anyone, not with the truths he has been forced to bury.

But when he first met her at eighteen, under an old tree with her hair ruffling in the wind, something in him shifted. And for years, he would remember that moment. A flicker of warmth he had no name for. A hope he did not dare speak aloud.

Now, at twenty-seven, their kingdoms have chosen peace through a political union. Lamia must carry out her duty, even if it means marrying the enemy. And Milo, for the first time in his life, has been granted something he never thought he could deserve.

"Just like a revelation, the clouds broke free.
There it saw the garden's only flower,
Waiting for love to call its name."