All her life, Vaasa Kozár has been sharpened into a blade.
After losing her mother—her only remaining parent—to a mysterious dark magic that has since awakened within her, Vaasa is certain death looms. So is her merciless brother, who aims to eliminate Vaasa as a threat to his crown. In one last political scheme, he marries her off to Reid of Mireh, a ruthless foreign ruler, in hopes that he can use her death as a rallying cry to finally invade Reid’s nation. All Vaasa has to do is die.
But she is desperate to live. Vaasa enters her new marriage with every intent to escape it, wielding the hard-won political prowess and combat abilities her late father instilled in her. But to her surprise, Reid offers her a deal: help him win the votes to rise in power, and she can walk free. In exchange, she will share his knowledge about the dark magic running through her veins—and help keep it at bay.
This proposal may be too good to refuse, yet Vaasa and Reid’s undeniable attraction threatens to break the rules of their arrangement. As her brother’s lethal machinations take form, everything is at stake: Vaasa must learn to trust her new husband, but how can she especially when their perfect political marriage begins to feel like the real thing? In The Serpent and the Wolf, Vaasa and Reid must confront deadly betrayals, unravel the enigma of her dark magic, and decide whether their growing bond is their greatest strength—or the ultimate risk—in a world where love and power are the most dangerous games of all.
Why You Should Read This Book
Tropes
Trigger Warnings
The Serpent and the Wolf
“These knots are well done. You’ll have to teach me so we can switch places next time.”
“I want to live, Reid. I want to live long enough to see more of the world before Dominik erases all the color from it.”
“This has nothing to do with how much I’d like to have you in my bed, though I do hope you’ll find interest in that, too, Wild One.”
“I propose the following: You act as my wife for a time, and I will help you discover all you wish to know about Veragi magic.”
“The truth is that all I can think about is sliding my hand between your legs until you come so hard you forget you ever hated me.”
“Then let me make you an empress. Tonight.”
“I suspect you could stop my heart in any color.”
“I know you don’t want a nation or a throne, I know you don’t want this life. So if I have to wait until the end of this decade, I will. I will find you and then you can choose what life we live. Any life you want.”
“Remind me who I am. Where I am. Because I think you are the only one who really knows.”
“Tell me that isn’t the truth. Tell me you haven’t already discovered there is nothing I won’t do or give for you.”
“This is my line, Vaasalisa. Do not threaten my country.”
“Just because this is all you have ever known, it does not mean it is all you will ever be.”
“You are not alone, and you never will be again.”
“Then it’s one less thing we’ll have to argue about. Marital spats are no fun, or so I’ve heard. Not that my wife has been around long enough for me to discover their level of joy.”
“I am the great-granddaughter of one of the most powerful Veragi witches known to this world, and she made her home in Mireh.”
“I believe you said a powerful man who has drunk wine all night and watched strangers dance with his wife will want her in his bed.
“It did not infect you. Veragi magic is generational, passed down from a mother to her eldest daughter. It only passes upon the witch’s death.”
“You can inherit someone’s eyes, or their hair or their nose, but you cannot inherit their faults. You learn them. Which means you can unlearn them, too.”
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