Part of The Sin Eater’s Daughter
First published 2015
Twylla is sixteen years old and engaged to the prince, but nobody in the castle will come near her. She is the Goddess Embodied, and her bare skin kills. Every week the guards walk her to the prison, and she lays her hands on prisoners condemned for treason. That is her purpose. That is all she is. The prince, whose royal blood is said to protect him, still keeps his distance. Twylla eats alone, sleeps alone, and moves through the court like a ghost everyone pretends not to see. Then a new guard is assigned to her, a young man named Lief who meets her eyes and does not flinch. He talks to her. He makes her laugh. For the first time, someone sees Twylla rather than the power she carries. But wanting him is dangerous, and the queen is not finished using Twylla yet. A scheme is forming in the throne room, one that will demand something from Twylla she cannot take back. She must choose between the duty that has defined her whole life and the first real connection she has ever known.
Genres: romance, fantasy, young-adult, dark-fantasy, fantasy-romance, dark-romance
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, haunting, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: chosen-one, enemies-to-lovers, forbidden-romance, slow-burn
Setting: The Castle, The Prison
336 pages · Paperback · Scholastic Press
Content warnings: death, violence