A Maiden… Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own.
The life of a Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked at. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. As she awaits the day of her Ascension, she’d rather be with the guards fighting the evil that took her family than preparing for the gods to find her worthy enough. But the choice has never been hers. A DUTY… The future of the entire kingdom rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she isn’t even sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And desire. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard sworn to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become entwined with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden. A REALM… Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising, determined to reclaim what it believes is its own through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of the cursed draws closer, the line between forbidden and right blurs. Poppy is not only about to lose her heart and be deemed unworthy by the gods, but she is also about to lose her life as the blood-soaked threads holding her world together begin to unravel.
