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She debates whether she should— or even could— obey the witch’s orders. One one hand, what’s four Elven lives compared to all the humans they’re forcing into starvation? Why are their lives any more important than her sisters’ and father’s?

But as she begins to fall in love with Stellon, she decides she could never do it, that her best bet is to leave the earliest moment she can and flee with her family from the village.

Each day Stellon leaves to attend to his duties and the social functions for the Assemblage. Each night he returns to charm her and confuse her further.

Any sort of relationship between them would be impossible. He’s an Elven prince, and she’s a human commoner.

One day while he’s away, she looks out her window to the courtyard where Pharis is practicing his sword fighting and knife throwing and archery skills.

Suddenly, he looks up at the window as if he knows she’s there. She vows to stay away from the window from now on during his practice sessions.

Stellon presents her with the locket he recovered from the market thieves for her. Raewyn is touched. She opens the locket.

When he sees the photo of her mother inside, Stellon gets a little shock of recognition. He feels like he’s seen her before. It must be because she looks like Raewyn, which of course she does—it’s her mom.

They talk about them each losing their mothers, and she invites him to share the enormous bed she’s been sleeping in alone while he slept on the uncomfortable couch. He accepts, vowing chastity.

But she feels things with him lying there beside her and has to keep reminding herself nothing can come of this inconvenient attraction she has to him.

After he drops off to sleep, she turns over and watches him, marveling at his incredible Elven beauty and the way he makes her feel.

When she wakes in the morning, she finds him already awake, sketching. She asks to see, and he reluctantly shows her.

He’s been drawing her as she slept. She flips back through the book, seeing his past drawings, many of which are of her, which shocks her.

He confesses he remembered every detail of her appearance, that he found her too beautiful for words so he had to keep drawing her.

He leans toward her, and she thinks he means to kiss her, but the moment is interrupted when Pharis knocks on the door, demanding entry into his brother’s suite.

He’s extremely curious about Stellon’s decision to hole away “alone.” He knows his brother, and he suspects he’s in there with Lady Wyn, the Elven woman he knows was a terrible match for him.

No one has seen her since the ball. All searches have turned up empty. People don’t vanish into thin air—she MUST be in there with Stellon.

And his brother must be under a spell to ignore the danger she obviously poses.

Stellon manages to get rid of him, promising mind to mind that Lady Wyn is not in his room. Elves cannot lie when communicating telepathically.

Stellon has to attend a mandatory evening event and is super bored and annoyed. He realizes Raewyn is the only one he wants to spend time with. This is veering into new and deeper territory.

It was all fun and games when she was just a human acquaintance, but having her here on a daily basis is a whole different thing. It’s too dangerous in every way.

Not only is she in danger, he is falling for her. That’s not good. He feels like he’s on the verge of a cataclysmic event.

But he can’t seem to stay away, and he’s certainly not interested in any of the bridal candidates. He slips out and goes back to his chambers, eager to see Raewyn.

His resolve to keep their relationship on a friendship basis is failing spectacularly. He almost kissed her early this morning, and he feels desperate to try again tonight.

While Stellon was gone, Raewyn tried not to think about the beautiful ladies he was flirting with at the mixer. It has nothing to do with her.

Her only concern should be her family and what is happening back home. Determined to recover quickly and get home to her family, (and perhaps drowning her sorrows a bit) she drinks a little too much saol water. It’s intoxicating to humans.

By the time Stellon returns, she is thoroughly drunk.

He seems delighted to see her, and she can’t help her attraction to him. When he realizes how much she drank, he asks why. She tells him she’s worried for her family, and Stellon realizes for the first time how impoverished most of his human subjects are.

He can’t help them all , but he vows to make sure her family is taken care of for the rest of their lives.

She’s grateful for his offer but still wonders whether to trust him with her family’s identities and the location of their village. When she mentions her drunken state, he says that’s okay, you’re cute when you’re in your cups.

“In fact you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

Her inhibitions loosened by the intoxicating Elven water, Raewyn surprises them both by kissing him. He’s into it and kisses her back ardently. Things start moving fast. This is dangerous ground.

The King barges into Stellon’s suite and Raewyn must hide under his bed.

She overhears some things that make her angry. Namely that the King keeps a retinue of glamoured human women for his own amusement, and that Stellon does nothing to stop this reprehensible High Fae “tradition.”

He rejects the possibility of defying the King. He would have to overthrow him, and not only does he not believe he has the power, he can’t be so disloyal to his father.

She hardens her heart. Stellon is Elven first and foremost. He will always side with his people and his father against the humans, no matter how sympathetic he’s appeared to be at times.

He assures her that when he’s King, things will change, but as Elves are immortal, that could be a long time from now.

She tells him she doesn’t need his charity, renewing her vow to get out of there and go home to save her family as soon as possible. In fact, why not tonight?

She tests her ankle and realizes it’s much better thanks to the overdose of saol water.

When she demands that he smuggle her out that night, Stellon tries to use his Sway on her. It doesn’t seem to work, which is odd. It must be the saol water she consumed that night making her immune.

Desperate, he does the only other thing he can think of—confess the truth—he’s fallen in love with her and wants to keep her in his life.

“How? As the inaugural member of your own retinue?” she asks.

When he confesses he’s not sure how it would work, repeating that he loves her, she rejects him. She must stay strong and resist him. She says, “You need to get over it. There’s no point in loving me. I’m leaving soon. We have to face reality.”

She goes to bed and hands him a pillow and blanket for the couch.

Stellon lies there, worried and unhappy. He’s been trying to ignore the facts. But he can’t ignore that she makes him happier than anything else does. His love is true, and he has to keep her, but how?

He’s determined to find a way for her to stay. But first he has to make her want to, and he’s got his work cut out for him.

The next day he asks his sister for some advice then sets about trying to woo Raewyn with special gifts. When that doesn’t work, he tries Mareth’s other suggestion—total honesty.

He answers Raewyn’s questions about Elvenkind and his Exalting glamour, which amplifies the glamour gifts of others.

A “servant’s glamour,” it has always been a source of shame. (He and his brother have been ridiculed their whole lives by their father for their “weak” glamours.)

He won’t tell her about Pharis’ “shameful” Gleaning glamour though, saying it’s not his secret to tell.

Once again, Raewyn’s heart softens. Stellon is not like the others. She says he has the perfect glamour for a future king—what is better than being able to help as many people as possible? For the first time, he feels a little better about his glamour. He vows to be a good king someday, unlike his father.

At the end of the evening when things are going especially well, he tells her about his plan to keep her, inviting her to become his official concubine.

He says he’ll proudly take her to events, acknowledge her publicly. It will be a position of power and respect and she and her family will be taken care of.

He will of course still have to take an Elven bride but says once they produce the required heirs, he’ll send her away.

Raewyn is insulted and furious. Stellon is married to his duty to the kingdom and will never see her as an equal. She cannot trust him or let herself fall for his sweetness.

And she can’t trust herself after that last kiss. Elves have amazing powers—more than she realized—and she is helpless against them. It is so easy to lose herself with him.

She must keep a clear head and not fall under his influence again. She tells him to get out and sends him to sleep in another room somewhere.

That night, Pharis, who is suspicious and jealous, sneaks into Stellon’s suite, using a secret passageway, and is shocked to find a human in his brother’s chambers when what he expected was a duplicitous Elven woman.

She’s in bed, and at first he looks at her lying there and thinks it’s definitely Wyn.

I can feel her.

Raewyn is shocked awake when she hears his voice. He’s shocked, too, when she sits up and he sees her.

“Who the hell are you?”

Stellon comes back, intending to make up with Raewyn. He’s horrified to find Pharis there. He’s busted. So is she, and he’s very afraid for her.

Stellon tells Pharis she’s the girl who saved his life in the Rough Market. Pharis realizes Raewyn and Lady Wyn are the same person.

He stares at her and thinks, It’s you, isn’t it? And she hears him! She thinks that must be his glamour—powerful mind-to-mind communication, even with humans.

She doesn’t answer him of course, but he’s sure it’s her. He warns her to tell Stellon or he will.

Stellon begs his brother to keep the human woman secret, and Pharis leaves after promising not to tell. Then Stellon apologizes to Raewyn for the concubine suggestion and says he has some confessions to make.

“I’m not who you think I am. I have done terrible things.”

After he confesses to using his glamour to help the King steal from people and even hurt or kill those who resist, she makes her own confession, telling him she is the Elven woman he danced with and announced his intention to marry at the ball.

She apologizes for tricking him and explains that the Earthwife in her village changed her so she could attend the ball safely.

Instead of being angry, he’s happy. He’s even flattered she’d go to such great lengths to see him again.

She chooses not to tell him the other part, that Sorcha ordered her to assassinate him and his whole family.

When she went to the ball, she didn’t know that was part of the plan, and she never really intended to do it so why bring it up?

Stellon realizes he’s not really surprised. He kind of knew all along didn’t he? Those eyes—no way two people could have them. And the way she enchanted him

Now he knows why he was so taken with the Elven “stranger” then forgot all about that beautiful “Elven” woman as soon as he saw Raewyn again.

He tells her he loves her and wants her to be his wife, not his mistress. There has to be a way. They kiss, and it’s passionate and wonderful.

It starts to go further, and she wonders if she should let it. Should she give her virginity to an Elven man and take his?

He says “Let me take you—I will be bonded to you for eternity, and I’ll never be able to be with anyone else. They’ll have to let me marry you and accept you as my queen because I won’t be able to marry anyone else ever or produce an heir with anyone else.”

This is a surprise to Raewyn. She didn’t know Elves could only take one mate for a lifetime. She can’t do that to him.

Even if they were allowed to be together, she’s mortal and will die far sooner than he will.

He could become bitter and horrible like his father. And she might never be able to give him children. No one even knows if Elves and humans can create children together—no one’s tried because it’s forbidden by law.

He says, “Let’s find out,” and moves in again, seducing her. But she stops him.

If she can’t give him an heir, the throne could pass to his horrible brother instead. They can’t let that happen. Imagine the kind of king Pharis would be. Stellon must become the king and marry.

He says, “I don’t want anyone but you—I never will. I want you more than the crown, more than anything.”

How can she resist this guy? She says, “I want you, too. And I love you. Which is why my answer has to be…”

30 minutes earlier—

After leaving Stellon’s chambers, Pharis visits the dungeon, speaking with Sorcha. She’s disappointed to see him alive and asks whether any of his family has been assassinated.

He tells her no, and she’s furious the Assemblage is almost over and Raewyn hasn’t done her job.

She offers him the truth about the vials of deadly poison found on the lawn—if he’ll free her.

He says it’s a deal, and she confirms that “Wyn” and “Raewyn” are one and the same person and that the poison vials were hers, dropped on the lawn during her escape attempt.

She was sent to assassinate the royal family but failed. Sorcha tells him it doesn’t matter because Raewyn has a second chance now that Stellon has become so attached to her. She laughs, pleased with herself.

Pharis rushes out, leaving the screeching Earthwife behind. He’s not stupid enough to release a witch who plotted to kill his family. She can rot in there.

Besides, he’s in too much of a hurry to save his brother to worry about the deal he made with her.

He overpowers the guards at Stellon’s door (using his Gleaning gift to siphon the shadow glamour of one of the guards.) In the scuffle, the guard dies, leaving Pharis in possession of his shadows permanently.

Pharis bursts into Stellon’s chambers, stopping him from bonding with Raewyn just in time (as far as he can tell.)

When he starts to out Raewyn as Lady Wyn and prove her “wrongness” to his brother, Stellon says, “She’s already told me about her deception, and I don’t care. She only wanted to see me again because our first meeting affected her as deeply as it did me. That’s why she made a deal with an Earthwife to change her appearance. I love her, and she’s the queen I want. I’m going to marry her.”

Again Pharis insists, “She’s lying to you. She’s not right for you—the matchmaking glamour told me so. And now I know why. Not because she’s human—because she was the assassin sent to kill you and all of us.”

Stellon scoffs at the ridiculous story. Pharis is deeply hurt and asks, “How can you trust her more than me? She’s a liar. She’s bewitched you, don’t you see? The old woman in the dungeon is the Earthwife who changed her. You cannot trust her. She used a love spell on you.”

Raewyn owns up to being part of the plot but insists she never wanted to hurt anyone, that she was tricked by the witch. And she’s not sure whether there’s a love spell.

Stellon forgives her and orders his furious brother to leave. Pharis calls Stellon a fool and vows to prove it, saying, “You’ll be sorry you didn’t listen to me. Maybe I’d be the better heir after all if you’re really that stupid.”

Stellon says he was ready to abdicate the throne anyway if that’s what’s required to be with Raewyn.

Pharis is shocked and horrified, but Stellon reminds him of his promise to keep Raewyn a secret. Pharis assures him he won’t betray his trust and leaves.

But Stellon knows their time is up—he has to get Raewyn out of there.

“There’s a chance my father will find out about you, despite Pharis’ promise. You’re not safe here any longer.”

Indeed the King has found out, and as Stellon is trying to smuggle Raewyn out on his horse, Pontus shows up at the stables with soldiers and orders her taken to the dungeon.

Stellon is furious at Pharis for breaking his promise but shocked that all he told their father was that she was human, not that she was an assassin.

Standing up to his father, Stellon says, “I love her.”

The enraged King says she’ll stay in the dungeon until after Stellon selects and bonds with an appropriate Elven woman.

Then he’ll allow her to stay in the palace as part of his son’s retinue. It’s clear his father plans to use her to control him for the rest of her life.

The other option is that she dies. Having no other choice, Stellon agrees.

Confined to his chambers until he “comes to his senses,” he is furious with his father—and with his brother for foiling their escape and ruining his life.

Pharis comes to see him and swears mind-to-mind he wasn’t the one who told the king. Stellon believes him and says they need to get her far away from there to a place their father won’t find her.

But who can be trusted to help her escape and protect her?

Pharis volunteers, saying no one would suspect him of helping a human.

He promises mind to mind he will keep Raewyn safe and get her out of there that very night.

Stellon thanks him profusely and then makes his brother vow never to tell anyone—including him—where Raewyn is, even if he begs, so he won’t be able to reveal her location if interrogated by his father’s truthsayer.

Pharis agrees. “I promise… I will never tell.”

Are you ready to find out what happens next? Enjoy the story!