A legacy is not always born in a castle. Sometimes, it begins in the dirt.
Twelve-year-old Mary is used to the heavy work of keeping her family’s farm alive. With her father away at the King’s wars, life is a cycle of hard work and grit—until a wounded knight named Sir Edward of Kare collapses in her cornrows with a secret that could change everything.
Edward is carrying a message that can stop a traitor’s plot, but he’s too weak to move, and his enemies are closing in. When ruthless soldiers arrive at the farm, Mary has no sword and no army—only her sharp wits and her iron hoe. To save the knight and her home, she must pull off a dangerous deception before the shadow of the war swallows them all. In this prequel to Hillary and Sir Edward, discover how a girl who refused to run became the spark that saved a throne.