The Heart of the King - J. J. Fischer

The worst monsters live within us.

The warring island kingdoms of Calidore and Jardia are thrown into chaos when Calidore's once prized, but now quite possibly half-mad, seer announces that young gravedigger Rigan North will one day capture the heart of the crown prince of Jardia-and lead Jardia to victory against Calidore. Together, Rigan and the prince will rid the Twin Kingdoms of the Shro Khan: deadly, mind-controlling monsters that terrorize the people on sand and at sea.

Desperate to maintain his stranglehold on power and prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled, the king of Calidore sends a troop of soldiers led by the legendary Aureus Corcoran to kidnap Rigan. Corcoran, who is rumored to be able to communicate with the Khan, wonders how this unremarkable, frustrating girl could ever ensnare the attentions of a would-be king even as he admires her clever attempts to escape him. But when her fiery ways and unexpected kindnesses begin to claim Corcoran's heart, prompting him to second-guess his orders, he wonders how the prophecy could ever come true-until he learns that not only is he far more than he believed himself to be, but she may be too.