Knives and Ribbons

I am seeking an agent for this unpublished, completed manuscript.

Eighteen-year-old Esper has trained her entire life for the knight trials. And it all comes down to a single knife throw before an audience of royals.

She faces her wooden target. Raises her knife. Glimpses the gray-eyed prince.

And misses.

Six immortal priests, the Planters, preach Esper’s failure is proof women are too weak for knighthood—can’t have them swooning at every handsome enemy on the battlefield. The kingdom believes the Planters because their veins run with the world’s lifeforce, which they wield to make miracles. But the village hag has found a way to brew her own miracles. She suspects the Planters rigged Esper’s downfall, and their next plot is to assassinate Rain, the gray-eyed prince. The hag offers Esper a second chance at knighthood: a potion that will give her the body of a famous knight named Sebastian. In return, Esper must become Rain’s protector, despite blaming him for her failure. Desperate to escape a life of sewing ribbons, Esper swallows the potion and her pride.

As Esper accompanies Rain on a kingdomwide search for his future queen, neither can deny a connection that seems to transcend flesh and blood. But between them lies deception. Each is haunted by a secret that, if shared with the other, would give them the power to destroy the Planters—before the immortal priests kill everyone who questions their regressive doctrines.