The infamous Prince of Catol won't live to inherit his dead father's crown without her. Hollis Avayana wants nothing to do with the Kingdom of Catol. Not for any resentment about her people's tormented history with the kingdom, no. She doesn't care about the bloodshed that traces her lineage. Hollis wants to remain where she cannot be seen. To live a life floating about the world like a piece of dandelion fluff. When the handsome Captain of the Royal Guard breaks into her cottage and demands she come to the castle to heal an unnamed person, Hollis' first instinct is to throw herself off her balcony and into the sea. When he makes an offer she can't refuse, Hollis decides anything could be done for a price. What she didn't expect was her patient being the Crowned Prince of Catol himself. His name infamous on every tongue in the Kingdom. And rooted deep within him? An illness unlike anything she's ever treated before. Something intentionally cast.