Castil il Veras, a dowerless scribe born of lesser boyars, attends the wedding of her best friend to the notorious cursed king of Helenrisia. It is at the prenuptial celebrations that she becomes bewitched by the mysterious magus king, even as she recognizes that he is forbidden to her. Doranis of Helenrisia travels south to Caskadan, bound by duty to secure trade agreements by marrying a woman who loathes the sight of him. Marked by the ancient magic of the Waste, he is surprised to discover one who finds him fascinating instead of repellant. But Castil is beyond his reach, cut off from him by birth, circumstance and distance. But Fate would have it otherwise, and a beseeching letter from a dying queen will bring them together again in a land rife with an ageless power.

Available as part of the Fire of the Frost anthology by Darynda Jones