Kulebra

If you ask my father who I am, he'll tell you I'm nobility, daughter of a warrior and stepdaughter of a queen. And if you grabbed someone off the street, you'd probably hear that I was something that might just steal your children from their beds at night, but you didn't hear it from them. But if you ask me, I'd say the term "misfit" is more appropriate. Kulebra Uhero - or "Kula", as she insists everyone call her - doesn't want to be a diplomat.
She's Ahktali's least qualified princess, and she's content to trade her royal duties of attending palace guests for overseeing royal animals instead. But after tragedy strikes, she's left as her little sister and new queen's only resort to quell the fears of an empire. When her mission of goodwill doesn't go according to plan, Kula is left with several enemies and the threat of a province's rebellion looming on the horizon.
As she truly discovers her nation for the first time, she is forced to confront not only Derian's shrewdest politicians but herself as well. Kulebra is the first in the "Tales from Cassidy" series of interconnected stand-alone novels. They can be read in any order.