The Boy Who Should Never Have Been Heir and the Girl Who Will Change Everything.

The Spare Who Became the Heir and Other Stories is an enchanting introduction to a world where a young sorcerer and princess inherits her powers too young and her childhood crush becomes the young man she will need—all leading up to what will come to pass in The Head, the Heart, and the Heir.

In these stories, the fantasy kingdoms of Warren and Datten come to life, and the children who will grow up to rule them begin to find themselves and define their fates.

• After falling through a frozen river and nearly drowning, nine-year-old exiled princess Alex gains command of the wind and other unsettling powers.

• The young Prince of Datten, Aaron, has his eyes set on revenge against the King of Warren for murdering his godfather’s wife and causing their daughter, the princess who would unite their kingdoms, to be lost in exile, so he begins to train to become the fighter who can bring down the King of Warren.

• Teenaged Alex has her first kiss and her guardian reprimands her, but she’s not the type to stand by and be told who she can kiss.

• In “The Spare Who Became the Heir,” Aaron travels to Warren under the pretense of training for a tournament—in reality, he is fleeing his father’s wrath after a fight.

And, finally, just months before the start of The Head, the Heart, and the Heir, Prince Aaron is sent to search for the missing princess of Warren, a girl he will no longer recognize, a girl who calls herself Alex.