All her life, Vaasa KozĂĄr has been sharpened into a blade.
After losing her motherâher only remaining parentâto 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 Reidâs 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 veinsâand help keep it at bay.
This proposal may be too good to refuse, yet Vaasa and Reidâs undeniable attraction threatens to break the rules of their arrangement. As her brotherâs 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 strengthâor the ultimate riskâin 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
âFor you, Vaasa. She thought if you were brave enough to be here, she should be, too.â
âWould you like to stay? This shower is big enough for two, and it isnât a bed, so if weâre going by the aforementioned rule, it wouldnât technically be breaking our agreement if I took you in here.â
âI got word from the High Temple that Isabel and Marc fucked so loud they could be heard until the early hours of the morning. I expect I have plenty of time to discuss this.â
âI suspect you could stop my heart in any color.â
âTo conquer you would surely leave me dead, Wild One. But you have gravely bruised my ego.â
"If I donât find her, I will burn all of Asterya to the ground.â
âThen let me make you an empress. Tonight.â
âI 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.
âI 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.â
âThen itâs one less thing weâll have to argue about. Marital spats are no fun, or so Iâve heard. Not that my wife has been around long enough for me to discover their level of joy.â
âThis is my line, Vaasalisa. Do not threaten my country.â
âThis has nothing to do with how much Iâd like to have you in my bed, though I do hope youâll find interest in that, too, Wild One.â
âThe choices of others are not a burden I carry any longer, and neither is their shame.â
âPretend you love me, Wild One. And make it convincing.â
âYou call it anger, you call it fear, but it is none of those things. What lies inside of you is pain. The kind that burns worlds to the ground.â
âYour mother made this arrangement, Vaasalisa, not your brother. She spoke directly with my own mother. While I made the formal request of our councilors, it wasnât your brotherâs idea, or mine.â
âDismissing your emotions doesnât make them disappear, it only gives them reason to rise later without your consent.â
âJust because this is all you have ever known, it does not mean it is all you will ever be.â
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