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.