A prophecy names one true moon. 
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Lyria has spent her entire life in the shadows — scorned, scarred, and invisible. The illegitimate daughter of a king who pretends she does not exist, she has learned to want nothing and expect less.

But when fourteen alpha suitors arrive to compete for her sister's hand, five of the most powerful men in the kingdom cannot seem to stay away from the girl they were never meant to notice.

Each one is powerful enough to shake kingdoms. Each one is drawn to her in ways that defy reason. But Lyria can only choose one, and the road to that choice will cost more than she ever imagined.

And Jacinta will burn the kingdom down before she allows Lyria to take what she believes is hers.

The silence after I finished reading was different from the ones before it.


I lowered the parchment, but I did not look up immediately.


I had read every word of that poem standing before the court and the kingdom, and I had not stumbled once, and some part of me that had been braced since the moment I took the parchment from Duke Valenridge's hand was only now beginning to understand that.


But that was not what was making it difficult to look up.


Lucian's poem had been beautiful. Duke Thorncrest's had been clever and warm and had made the hall laugh. Both had moved me in their own way.


I did not want to believe it. I told myself it was coincidence, that the Duke had written what he had written for the competition and nothing more, and that I was reading things into ink and parchment that were not there.


Chapter 186 - More Than Words