The horde will come. They will consume. They will leave. The fearsome horde wasn’t supposed to be real… But then myth becomes reality in the touch of a savage. Glowing red eyes, pointed teeth, and claws demolish everything in our village. As well as my hope to escape with my sister. There’s nothing we can do except wait for their departure, hoping they don’t take more than we have to give. The savage’s demands are swift and foreign, as is the hunger in his eyes. He only watches me and the fire in his gaze burns brighter the longer he stares. I’m beginning to think he’ll never leave… Or if he does, he won’t go without me.

His heart is set on vengeance. Mine only wants him. After escaping the vicious horde camping nearby, I need the papers that will get me through heavily guarded gates of Lyan. Desperate for coin to buy those papers, I turn tricks. Until he pins me and offers me a deal: I let him channel my magic, and he walks me inside the city. It sounds like a great deal. It really is a great deal. Except, the man who offered the deal, altho charming, is no honorable prince. He's a savage. A horde male from the people I escaped from. His heart is set on vengeance. I'm his means to an end. I can’t fall for him. I won’t. No way. … And then I do.

A dinner with two ladies in attendance. One is a queen. The other is not. The queen is off limits. The queen is king’s. And that’s why I took her.