PRINCESS DEATH

Not every princess waits to be saved.

Princess Indigo was cursed before she ever took her first breath.

On the day Queen Citrine married Prince Azrael, their celebration was shattered by Zimbardo, a powerful sorcerer consumed by jealousy and vengeance. When Citrine rejected him, Zimbardo placed a terrible curse upon her unborn first child: the touch of death.

The curse proved horribly real. Citrine died after giving birth to Indigo, leaving King Azrael to raise a daughter whose innocent touch could kill.

Indigo grows up surrounded by royal privilege but denied the simplest human comfort. A touch of the hand, an embrace, or a kiss could become a death sentence. As fear spreads throughout the Five Kingdoms, Indigo acquires a name she never wanted: Princess Death.

But Indigo is no monster. She is spirited, intelligent, stubborn, funny, vulnerable, and painfully aware of what the curse has cost her. She longs for friendship, freedom, adventure, and the chance to be loved without endangering those she loves. Her most faithful companion is Nyx, her devoted wolf, who stays beside her when others are afraid to come close.

When an ill-fated royal ball makes it clear she may never have a normal future, Indigo decides she has had enough of hiding behind castle walls. Rather than wait for someone else to save her, she sets out with Nyx to find what may not even exist-a cure.

Her quest carries her through haunted and enchanted forests into a world of dark sorcery, mythical creatures, winged dangers, magical traps, unexpected allies, and enemies whose intentions are rarely what they seem. The curse that isolated Indigo may sometimes be the only weapon capable of keeping her alive, but using it risks turning her into the monster people believe her to be.

Then there is Prince Ion.

Ion has heard all about Princess Death, and marrying a girl whose touch can kill is hardly his idea of a fairy-tale romance. Indigo isn't interested in being rescued by a prince, either.

Their relationship turns the traditional fairy tale upside down. Instead of instant devotion, they must navigate suspicion, frustration, danger, attraction, and the inconvenient fact that physical contact between them could be fatal. As Ion comes to know the young woman behind the legend, he realizes Indigo did not choose her curse-and that she is willing to risk everything to undo the evil done to her.

But the closer Indigo comes to finding a cure, the greater the danger becomes.

Zimbardo has never forgotten the curse he placed upon her. The sorcerer who destroyed Queen Citrine's happiness remains determined to control her daughter's fate. What began as revenge against Indigo's mother becomes a battle with the young woman who survived everything he intended to destroy.

To defeat him, Indigo must do more than survive his magic. She must reject the identity his curse created for her.

Princess. Monster. Weapon. Victim. Princess Death.

Indigo must decide for herself who she will become.

For Indigo, the greatest challenge is learning that possessing a deadly power does not make her evil. The curse determines what her touch can do. It does not determine her character. Courage, compassion, loyalty, friendship, and love remain choices that belong to her.

Cursed before birth. Feared throughout the Five Kingdoms. Hunted by the sorcerer responsible for her fate. Armed with a deadly power she never wanted and accompanied by one faithful wolf, Princess Indigo sets out to find a cure-and discovers that being cursed and being doomed are not the same thing.

She may have been born with the touch of death. She intends to choose life.