I just started A Queen in Hiding by Sarah Kozloff, volume one of her Nine Realms series

What talent hides unseen within each breast?
Begrimed, bejeweled, and all the rest,
Till soothing sun calls forth a sleeping bud,
Or rain reveals the gold beneath the mud.

I just started A Queen in Hiding by Sarah Kozloff, volume one of her Nine Realms series.

My quest for unique Fantasy has led me to here, to a realm threatened not by a Dark Lord (at least, not as far as I can tell) but by a corrupt aristocracy. To one princella Cerulia of Weirandale who must win back her mother's throne as a rebel guerilla fighter. But first she must recruit an army, ally will spirits, and discover her own secret magic because nothing is ever as simple as it appears. Especially not the complex things. Oh, and did I mention Fire-worshiping religious maniacs from an ancient militaristic realm?