“I will not listen to any more of your insolent behaviour boy. You brought this on yourself. You marked this young woman and now you must take her as yours.”

In that instant Ziza felt her heart shrivel, die and plummet deep into the bottom of her acidic stomach. Take her as his? Her hand in marriage? Surely the king wouldn’t be so cruel that he would give her hand in marriage to his beast of a son.

She just lost her job, lost her boyfriend, and was tortured by her half-siblings and their mother. And this was what she got—marrying a ruthless, cold prince who’d slapped her and insulted her?!

Would she have even a glimmer of hope in this arranged marriage?