K_Mopo

Rebellious. Defiant. Reluctant.

Isolde Blackwell never wanted the crown. Her loving parents and the kingdom they rule mean everything to her, but when her elder sister abdicates, the unwanted responsibility of becoming queen falls on her shoulders.

Determined to escape her fate, Isolde crafts a new identity—cold, arrogant, unapproachable. She lashes out, pushing everyone away, hoping to convince her family and court that she's unfit for the throne.

Then Lyra Skyblade enters her life. Half-human, half-demon, and fiercely independent, Lyra saves Isolde from an attack, unknowingly becoming her bodyguard. Thrust together by circumstance, their initial animosity burns hot, each detesting the other.

But as they face monstrous threats and navigate political intrigue, Isolde's icy facade begins to thaw. Lyra's unwavering dedication stirs something unexpected within her. Can Isolde embrace her true self and the burgeoning feelings she has for Lyra, even as she fights against the destiny she never wanted?

In a world where rebellion and duty clash, two souls find love in the most unlikely of places.

The princess's bodyguard ( Isolde point of view)

Time ground to a thickness that wasn't real the instant the bullet tore into me.

The pistol crack rang in my head, rebounding off bone and memory. I savored impact—hot, metallic, half-second ahead of the flare.

My breath was caught, iron-tasting and enraged, the world narrowing to a tunnel that showed only the pirate captain's grin, the smoke of the gun, the lean of the jungle forward, hungry to drink blood.

I'd been wounded before, lots of times—slashes, stabs, even a crossbow bolt once—but there was something about the bite of lead, the rhythm of it, which made my whole body protest.

For a moment I just stood there, amazed, seeing the blood spread through my shirt, red on red, life seeping away to the same rhythm as the earth.

Pain. Anger. Too many weights of eyes—men, the pirates, the crying, cowering children in the wake of burning tents.

Almost died