<I>I noticed his eyes. They were blue, sharp and intense. Despite the youthful glows of his suntanned face, his eyes were cold and unfriendly, suggesting he had great experience in the world and was now expecting the worst.</i><P>In her seventeenth year, Princess Alera of Hytanica faces one duty: to marry the man who will be king. But her father's choice of suitor fills her with despair.<P>When the palace guard captures and intruder?a boy her age with steel-blue eyes, hailing from her kingdom's greatest enemy?Alera is alarmed?and intrigued. But she could not have guessed that their clandestine meetings would unveil the dark legacy shadowing both their lands.<P>In this mystical world of court conspiracies and blood magic, loyalties will be tested. Courage won't be enough. And as the battle begins for everything Alera holds dear, love may be the downfall of a kingdom.