Strangers-to-enemies-to-lovers Stories

"𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓴 𝓸𝓯 𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓸𝓷𝓮." The Foxglove King is the first instalment in the Gardenias Series. It focuses primarily on Cassandra's point of view while the narrative includes special interludes from the perspectives of other characters. 𝓑𝓵𝓾𝓻𝓫: Cassandra of Evaris is nineteen-a queen far too young, shaped by war, raised on half-truths and the ashes of a past she cannot remember. Her crown is a burden. Her court, a cage. She remembers nothing before the age of ten - only flickers of fire and screams in the dark, blood on marble floors, and the sharp ache of something - or someone - missing. But war sharpens the soft. Now, as the drums of conflict thunder from Caladorn's shores, Cassandra steels herself for battle. Then comes the storm. Nikolai of Virelia - dark prince, feared king, whispered curse - is in her castle. Uninvited. Unarmed. Unbothered. And offering an alliance. She should say no. His name is painted in blood and whispered in war councils like a curse. A name scrawled in crimson across every war table. But his eyes - his eyes look at her like they've known her. Like they miss her. She does not know that he has spent the last three years chasing the memory of a girl he cannot name, guided only by the words inked on his skin: Leave flowers by her bed. He does not know that the ghost he seeks is a queen who now stares at him with cold fire and a blade beneath her gown. Old magic stirs. Forgotten memories burn just beneath the surface. And in the ruin left by two kingdoms poisoned from within, the truth waits-sharp, buried, and dangerous. Because love is a weapon. And some crowns were forged in blood.