Spy, manipulator, traitor... He might be her only salvation.ady Seliah Phel canโt escape feeling like sheโs one of those fairytale princesses awakened from a long slumberโexcept that her life is no romantic story and thereโs no happy ending in sight. Though she has her magic and sheโs been rescued from the depths of madness that consumed her since adolescence, Selly finds that the years she lost arenโt so easily recovered. Everyone treats her like the child they remember. To prove somethingโperhaps only to herselfโsheโs recklessly volunteered to stave off a host of monsters with only the enigmatically alluring, cuttingly sarcastic, and probably deceitful wizard Jadren El-Adrel for company.
Jadren isnโt the heroic type. In fact, heโs not much of anything. Relentlessly groomed into a shadow of a man by his sadistic mother, heโs the perfect spy and tool, with no real will of his own. When heโs stranded in the wilderness with Seliah Phel, he figures the outcome is immaterial. Live or die, itโs all the same to him. But Seliah is a different story and she isnโt like anyone else. Though he reminds himself sheโs basically a child in a womanโs body, he finds it increasingly difficult to resist her artless charms and relentless curiosity.
As their predicament goes from dire to disastrous, Jadren realizes his many failures have jeopardized Sellyโs future, perhaps her very life. Far from home and trapped without resources, Selly has only Jadren to rely uponโthe one person she canโt possibly trust. There seems no possibility of rescue from their friends and family back home at House Phel, so Jadren and Selly must work together to survive... if they can.