In the Shadow of a Hoax: Fareview Fairytale, Book 2 by Maci Aurora

In the kingdom of Kaloma, a woman cannot own land, money, or even her own future. It’s the law—and for Tarley Fareview, it’s a cage she refuses to accept. Idealistic, stubborn, and determined to carve out a life on her own terms, she’s spent years pushing against a system designed to keep her small. But when defending herself from a man who won’t take no for an answer puts her at risk of imprisonment, Tarley is forced to flee into the Whitling Woods disguised as a boy. There, she stumbles upon a dying stranger and faces an impossible choice: walk away to save herself… or risk everything to save him. She chooses him. The stranger is no ordinary man. Lachlan Nikolas—crown prince of Jast, traveling in disguise for treaty negotiations—has survived an attack that should have killed him. Stripped of his identity and barely clinging to life, he wakes to the care of a mysterious young “boy” whose courage and compassion defy the world he thought he knew. As Tarley hides the truth of who she is and Lachlan struggles to rebuild who he might become, their fates tangle in ways neither expects. But danger is closing in, and the fragile peace between their kingdoms hangs by a thread. If the truth of their identities is revealed, it could destroy the treaty… and each other. Read more