Book One of the Sarajevo SeriesThe Princess of Sarajevo
Lamija Begović enters every room like she owns it-because one day, she will. Heiress to Sarajevo's most powerful business empire, she's brilliant, untouchable, and raised to conquer. She doesn't ask for respect. She commands it.
Ayub Selimović grew up in her world, wearing the same suits, eating at the same table-but never truly belonging. After his father died driving for the Begović family, he was taken in as one of their own. He was never treated as less. But he always knew.
He's spent a decade in silence, building trust beside her brother. When he's suddenly reassigned to Lamija's team, she's forced to see what's always been there: a man of loyalty, quiet strength, and a heart that has never once strayed from hers.
Their story was never supposed to happen. But Sarajevo remembers everything-and the past always finds a way to rise.
Before the wolves, the sons, and the war-there was the princess...And the boy who waited to be seen.
The people gather together with their finest offerings, to praise the Great God Shakur. But the city is filled with truths they will never know.
I watch over her. I feel her pain with her. I feel all the many injustices done to her. And I wish I could intervene. I wish I could intervene but ever since my powers became depleted, this is all I can do.
The child is away from her true family. And she is in a family that treats her like a thing. Treats her like a tool to be used and a service to be exploited. She keeps all the hurt and the suffering and the hopelessness she feels inside. She’s far, far too young to be this hopeless. No-one deserves to be this hopeless.
What she doesn’t know though is that she is the embodiment of hope itself.
The city is beautiful and glittering under the shine of the sun. But everyone knows of the people living underneath the city, in their subterranean world. The girl from the comfort and luxury of the world above ground doesn’t know much about the world underneath. But she is falling. She’s falling. And she does not know what awaits her.
Two worlds, placed in stark opposition with each other, placed intimately nestled close to each other. The world of hunger, thirst, sickness, and need. The world of the beggars. The world of luxury, comfort, pleasure, and contentment. The world of the shoppers. Two people look into each other’s faces. And they share a moment together. A small moment, mundane and abominable, in the flow of lives that take into account no justice, no mercy. Two people see each other. And nothing happens. And everything happens.
Nobody knows where the stories of Sheelo the prophet originated from. But everyone knows that they believe them. The stories are amazing, fantastical, inspiring, and so very empowering. And everyone knows that with Sheelo on their side, they are strong enough to stand up to those who have wealth and power.
Once upon a time there was a kingdom. A kingdom full of common people who were scraping by however they could. A kingdom full of nobles who had more than they ever needed. A kingdom full of imbalanced power and inalienable longing.
There was a servant girl who was the mother of the king's son. There were many other women who were the mothers of many saccharine children.
And somewhere in the reality between realities, there were four women creating.
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This work is in the public domain and anyone can do whatever they want with it.
Everything's beautiful. Everything's beautiful. Everything is just fine and beautiful.
Never mind that the world is a swirling mass all around me. Never mind that I can barely walk straight. Never mind that there's a hand around my wrist holding me in a vice-grip. Never mind that something deep inside me is telling me to run.
I am exactly where I'm meant to be. The only place where I can be.
———This work is in the public domain and anyone can do whatever they want with it.
Kaden Everett, the Archduke, commander in chief, when falls for Princess Aliyah Clemons, the Duke's daughter, remains unaware what tragedy could fall upon the couple posing as a Threat to the Throne.