Blood beneath the crown

Blood Beneath the Crown

Book One of The Hidden Bloodlines Saga

Seventeen-year-old Natalie Straw has spent her entire life hidden.

No village markets. No talking to strangers. And above all, no being seen by the Crown.

She always believed her parents were simply overprotective-until Crown debt collectors discover the daughter they've spent seventeen years pretending doesn't exist.

Natalie finally learns why.

In a kingdom where families are trapped beneath impossible debts, money isn't the only payment the Crown accepts.

Sometimes, they take daughters.

Terrified of the future chosen for her, Natalie runs.

Armed with a kitchen knife, a few books, barely enough food and absolutely no survival skills, she escapes into the forbidden woods-only to be hunted by six wolves with unnatural green eyes.

She should have died.

Instead, Natalie wakes in a hidden treehouse belonging to Marcus Asher, a mysterious young man who has survived alone in the forest for eleven years.

Marcus can hunt, fight and survive anything the woods throw at him.

But he can't read.

Natalie can.

They strike a deal: he'll teach her to survive, and she'll teach him to read and write.

Neither expects friendship. Neither expects trust. And neither expects the feelings that begin growing between them.

But Marcus is hiding a dangerous secret.

When the truth finally comes out, an eleven-year-old letter sends them searching for answers through coded plants, hidden magic, missing families and pieces of a mysterious family tree.

To survive the journey, Natalie and Marcus must hide who they are-even pretending to be newlyweds.

The Crown has buried its secrets for generations.

But some secrets run in the blood.