Not all Sleeping Beauties are awakened by True Love's kiss. King Alessandro suffers from a far-too-mundane curse: an unhappy marriage. His entire life is consumed by his duty to both his wife and his kingdom, so when he stumbles upon a maiden trapped in a sleeping spell, he figures it's also his duty to kiss her awake. Talia isn’t Disney's Princess Aurora. She's the daughter of a merchant, and she's the victim of a prophecy that she will be felled by a splinter of flax. She awakens—sort of—at King Alessandro's kiss, but she still has a long way to go before she finds her Happily Ever After. In this retelling of Giambattista Basile's classic fairy tale, the road to the happy ending is paved with illicit affairs, deception, and murder. Alessandro and Talia will get their happy ending, but will it be worth the price?