108,835 Words

Since returning to her father’s court after nine years of study at foreign universities, all Aylin has wanted is to play with her potions in peace. Then the childhood sweetheart who ignored her for a decade charges back into her life. Now a widowed khan with three young sons and a border to protect, Ender needs financial support, and marrying Aylin is his path to getting it. To preserve the fragile alliance between their khanates, Aylin agrees to the engagement in hopes the boy she knew survived inside the man he became. But then, her grandmother sends her a charmed ring and a warning, leaving Aylin with the suspicion that Ender’s sweet promises mask a bitter poison for which she has no antidote. Despite her growing doubts, Aylin puts her education to use tutoring Ender’s sons while befriending their caretaker, a mysterious former cavalry medic named Kian. When a rebellion at the border pulls Ender away, delaying the wedding indefinitely, her friendship with Kian deepens into a romance that threatens to upend more than just her own life. Torn between love and duty with Ender’s sons caught in between, none of Aylin’s books prepared her for the choices she has to make.