The Bard's Bargain

When Princess Alexandra of Lenwen rejects every suitor at her own debut, she angers kings, princes, and above all her formidable mother. As punishment, the queen strips Alexandra of her title and forces her to spend a year living as a commoner alongside Tom, the lowliest bard the queen can find, in Norwen, the neighboring kingdom of the suitor she spurned.

With no guards, physicians, or servants to fall back on, Alexandra has to learn to survive, and to care about someone besides herself, for the first time in her life. Despite the constant hardship, she finds herself drawn to the easygoing, lighthearted Tom, until the choice waiting at the end of her year forces her to decide between reclaiming her old life and ending a generation of war, or staying with what she's found instead.

A retelling of the Grimm fairy tale "King Thrushbeard," and the first book in the Bard's Bargain series.