Heather Walter

A princess isn’t supposed to fall for an evil sorceress. But in this darkly magical retelling of “Sleeping Beauty,” true love is more than a simple fairy tale. Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss. You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after. Utter nonsense. Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels and elaborate parties and charm-granting elixirs. I thought I didn’t care, either. Until I met her. Princess Aurora. The last heir to Briar’s throne. Kind. Gracious. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am Alyce, the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Humiliated and shamed by the same nobles who pay me to bottle hexes and then brand me a monster. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse. But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating—and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world. Nonsense again. Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I— I am the villain.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most villainous of them all? Snow White’s dark queen tells her side of the story in this queer, witchy reimagining of the classic fairy tale from the author of Malice. Legends tell of a witch who became a queen—the heartless villain in the story of Snow White. But now the wicked queen is stepping out of Snow White’s shadow to become the heroine of her own legend. Her real “once upon a time” begins when she is just Ayleth, a young witch who lives in the forest with her coven. The witches practice their magic in secret, hiding from the White King and his brutal war against witchcraft. Ayleth, however, faces a war of her own. Her magical gifts have yet to reveal themselves, and as the threat of the Royal Huntsmen intensifies, Ayleth fears she will never become the witch her coven needs. To prove herself, Ayleth sets out on a perilous quest that sends her to the White Palace, a decadent world of drama and deceit. There, Ayleth encounters an unlikely figure from her Jacquetta, a witch who once held Ayleth’s heart—and betrayed her. As events at the palace escalate, Ayleth finds herself caught in the web of the White King, whose dark charisma is as dangerous as the sinister force that seems to be haunting the palace—and perhaps even Ayleth herself. With the threat of discovery looming, Ayleth and Jacquetta must set aside the wounds of their past and work together to survive. As she uncovers the secrets of the White Court—and those of her own heart—Ayleth must find the strength to transform into someone she never imagined she could be. A powerful witch, the very wickedest of them all.

Does true love break curses or begin them? The dark sorceress of “Sleeping Beauty” reclaims her story in this sequel to Malice. The Dark Grace is dead. Feared and despised for the sinister power in her veins, Alyce wreaks her revenge on the kingdom that made her an outcast. Once a realm of decadence and beauty, Briar is now wholly Alyce’s wicked domain. And no one will escape the consequences of her wrath. Not even the one person who holds her heart. Princess Aurora saw through Alyce’s thorny facade, earning a love that promised the dawn of a new age. But it is a love that came with a heavy price: Aurora now sleeps under a curse that even Alyce’s vast power cannot seem to break. And the dream of the world they would have built together is nothing but ash. Alyce vows to do anything to wake the woman she loves, even if it means turning into the monster Briar believes her to be. But could Aurora love the villain Alyce has become? Or is true love only for fairy tales? Book Two of the Malice Duology