Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't
had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from
her "caregiver," and she is on the verge of being thrown into the
streets . . . until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein,
an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything--except a friend.
Victor
is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make
herself indispensable--and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein
family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the
finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable.
But her new
life comes at a price. As the years pass, Elizabeth's survival depends
on managing Victor's dangerous temper and entertaining his every whim,
no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the
calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost .
. . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness.
No one expects a
princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since
she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their
homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the
Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to
survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an
unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes
them special also makes them targets.
Lada despises the Ottomans
and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can
return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a
place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and
lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and
Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.
But
Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight
against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and
Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty
to the breaking point.
