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Chapter 1

“We go home to marry, my Princess”

As in get married?

To him?

Suddenly, I thought of all those girlish fantasies I’d had before I learned who I was and as expected of iven life because of the love my parents had for one another

Never once did those little-girl dreams include a proposal that wasn’t re announced at a table full of strangers, half of which wanted me dead And those dreadoe to ame captive

Perhaps I had so hallucinations brought on by stress After all, there had been so much painful death to process His betrayal to deal with And I’d just learned I was descended frodom I’d been raised to believe was the source of all the evil and tragedy in the land Stress-induced hallucinations seemed a far

All I could do was stare at the larger hand holding htly darker thana sith deadly, graceful precision had left his palms callused

He lifted my hand to an indecently well-formed and full ly firm Lips that had spun beautiful words into the air and whispered heated, wicked proe to the many scars that riddled my body and face

Lips that had also spoken blood-soaked lies

Now, that esture that I would’ve cherished for an eternity and thought exquisitely tender just days or weeks ago Si or chaste kisses had been forbidden tosince accepted that I would never experience those things

Until him

I lifted aze fro up on one side, hinting at a di lips that revealed just a hint of fatally sharp fangs

His hair brushed the nape of his neck and toppled over his forehead, and the thick strands were such a deep shade of black, it often shone blue in the sunlight With high and angular cheekbones, a straight nose, and a proud, carved jaw, he often reraceful cave cat I had seen once in Queen Ileana’s palace as a child Beautiful, but in the way all wild, dangerous predators were My heart sta, cool amber

I kneas staring at Hawke—

Coldness poured into my chest as I stopped myself That wasn’t his name I didn’t even know if Hawke Flynn was ed to sohtered for their identity I feared it was the latter Because Hawke had supposedly codoain, the Couards in Masadonia had turned out to be a supporter of the Atlantians, a Descenter, so that too could’ve been a lie

Either way, the guard who’d pledged to protect me with his sword and with his life wasn’t real Nor was the man who had seen me for who I was and not just what I was The Maiden The Chosen Hawke Flynn was nothing irl dreams had been

Who held hness The Dark One

Above our joined hands, the curve of his lips grew The diht cheek was apparent It was rare that the left diht that out

“Poppy,” he said, and every muscle in my body knotted I wasn’t sure if it was the use of my nickname or the deep, musical lilt of his voice that made me tense “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so speechless”

The teasing glimmer in his eyes hat snapped me out ofthe knowledge that if he had wanted to stopaway, he could’ve easily done so

“Marriage?” I found my voice, if only to say the one word

A glint of challenge filled his gaze “Yes Marriage You do knohat that means?”

My hand curled into a fist against the wooden table as I held his stare “Why would you think I wouldn’t knohat e is?”

“Well,” he replied idly, picking up a chalice “You repeated the word as if it confused you And as the Maiden, I know you’ve been…sheltered”