Lady Atefeh Salahuddin and Prince Baldwin of Jerusalem.

She’d been told to cling to her handmaiden’s skirts—don’t go anywhere without a chaperone, for the more unscrupulous of Jerusalem won’t care for her gender, age or size. She’d heeded all this as her Father had kissed her goodbye and put her in the hands of her handmaiden and his most trusted guards. Her head had raced all the way to Jerusalem’s gates—to go from home where everyone was kind… to somewhere where Father was not, and where they would hurt her if she ever did something wrong…

Atefeh had quietly cried into her skirts, wondering if it were something she’d done…

… only to be welcomed by a grinning boy with crooked teeth, lemon-coloured hair and big, blue eyes, not unlike those fairies her handmaiden had read about aloud to her on the journey there.

Part of the From Eden series.