The Ballad of Baby Blue

Her Dark Inheritance

Prequel to The Queen’s Box

July 11th, 2025

Some songs are warnings. Some girls are remembered in whispers. And some stories refuse to fade—because they were never truly finished.

Before Eryth.

Before the Box.

Before the queens who fed on sacrifice and sorrow—

There was a fae girl named Blue.

And the mortal who loved her.

In Hemridge, fae and mortal once lived side by side. But when hardship struck—famine, sickness, loss—fear took root. Whispers turned cruel. The fae became unwelcome. Strange. Dangerous.

Blue has spent her life hidden away in the mountains, where magic still lingers and the rules of the village don't reach. Raised by Margie, a woman who once loved a faerie and paid the price, Blue has learned to keep her secrets close. She lives barefoot and fearless, whispering to birds and juggling stones with her mind—free, for now.

But freedom is fragile.

When Margie’s aging mother falls ill, Blue is forced to descend the mountain and live among the mortals of Hemridge once more. There, she must cover her ears, soften her wildness, and pretend to belong in a place that looks for cracks and punishes difference.

And then there’s Evie.

Awkward, observant, soft-spoken Evie—who stares too long, asks too much, and keeps pushing past the boundaries Blue tries to set. Evie doesn’t understand Blue. Not yet. But she wants to.

What begins in irritation blooms into something tender, then sharp-edged and dangerous. In Hemridge, even longing can be forbidden—and girls like Blue are never meant to be loved openly.

As summer deepens and secrets slip loose, Blue is faced with an impossible choice:

Stay and vanish into a life of pretending.

Run, and risk becoming a story the villagers whisper about when the wind turns cold.

Or follow a legend only half-believed—one that speaks of bridges between worlds and magic that remembers its own.

The Ballad of Baby Blue is a tragic, tender fantasy about longing, first love, and the courage it takes to step across the threshold—no matter the cost.

This engrossing origin tale sets the stage for Her Dark Inheritance and the bloodline that began it all.