Ash & Dirt

Helvandon-a land in turmoil beneath the tyrannical rule of the evil king Dietrich, Adria's own uncle who is sitting on a throne that should rightfully have been hers; an uncle who would gladly see her dead, just as he saw her parents dead before Adria's guardian, the woman Adria calls Grandmother, whisked her away to the safe life of an anonymous farm-girl. For years the questions surrounding the deaths of her parents have gone unanswered, until one fateful day when Adria's peaceful hunt in the familiar nearby woods is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a stranger-a handsome foreigner named Darian-who not only claims to know Adria, but throws her world into even greater chaos with tales of distant Helvandon. The stranger insists on her return to a homeland she does not remember to engage in a battle she can't imagine. Darian would drag her back to a destiny that will undoubtedly place her life in jeopardy, yet she finds herself falling for him. What does any of it mean: Princess, orphan, farm-girl, rightful queen of Helvandon? Who is she beneath the masks she has been made to wear? And can she rise to the challenges she is now faced with and still recognise herself in the mirror? The path Adria must take is a tumultuous one filled with romance, heartbreak, death, and dark magic: a lost heir rising, like a flower from the flames to reclaim her rightful place on the throne. If you like traditional fairy stories, where damsels wait in their high towers for the brave knights to come rescue them so they can live happily ever after, you should probably read something else....