Book excerpt: I'm Amara, and let me be clear: I never wanted to be Queen. I was just a baker's daughter, living a quiet life, when everything was turned upside down. The previous King's blunders and some absurd prophecy shoved me into a role I never asked for. I didn't fight for the throne—I was thrown into it because of other people's mistakes. Imagine being pulled from a simple life, having to leave your family behind, and suddenly being thrust into a kingdom's chaos. That was my reality. I had to wrestle for my place among nobles who saw me as nothing more than a commoner. Every step I took was a struggle to be acknowledged, not as a hero, but as someone who had no choice but to take on a role that should never have been mine. So here I am, trying to navigate a kingdom that doesn't exactly roll out the red carpet for me. If you're looking for a tale of royal glory and epic heroics, you won't find that here. What you'll find is the story of a girl who was thrown to the wolves and had to figure out how to survive in a world that had no place for her.