The Bee Queen

DEDICATION“Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.” Henry David Thoreau FOR CHARLOTTE Who made me start a compost bin. Who dragged me through the New Zealand bush to show me beautiful things. Who finds grace in the strangest of places. And rainbows on the darkest days. Whose first bee sting was because she wanted to stroke it. And who believes we can still rescue this planet. THE STORY SO FAR... Raised on an island in the middle of nowhere, the Princessa Estefania is traded to the prince of the warring capital of Forlornn. From spoiled and privileged to resented and almost assassinated, hers is a tough awakening to the cruelty of men. Nothing is as she once believed and Estefania discovers her life has been a carefully crafted illusion to conceal her real identity. She is a virgin bee queen, able to pass from the reality of the Outer to a virtual hive which hovers between realms. She’s the last of her kind, the only one left who carries the bee mark. The spiteful Wasp Lord and his marauding Swift warriors set out to finish what they started and herald in the perpetual winter. But they underestimated Estefania of the Melitto. Discovering her silent bodyguard’s gift for snatching her completely from the Outer and taking her into the hive, Estefania arrives there battered and bruised with a new agenda. She doesn’t want to rule a colony. She intends to kill the Wasp Lord.