Juniper, a rebellious princess, follows her deceased boyfriend into the underworld. Little did she know that she would become one of the candidates to marry the Underworld Prince.

Now, she must compete against 20 women from various worlds for the hand of a man she doesn't even want. This is a nightmare...

Luckily, her grandmother has sent her an assistant — a ghost wolf! But in reality, he is a ghost boy...

Juniper's adventures in the underworld and her entanglements with these boys will lead her to places she never imagined. Where will her journey take her?

Soldiers carry two caskets ahead of me into the Goddess’s temple, but I only keep my eyes fastened on the one that holds the body of the only man I’ve ever loved.

The only man I’ve ever kissed, even. I was supposed to marry him today.

The wolf in my soul raises her snout to the sky and gives a long, desperate howl.

“Juniper? Sweetheart, are you…are you all right?” my mom whispers, stepping close to my side in the long parade of people, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. She keeps her voice low. She’s the Queen, after all, and I’m a Princess. People are watching.

Mom’s eyes move anxiously over my drawn face and then over the wedding gown that I’m wearing, which I’ve dyed black. She gave me a simple grey dress to wear to today’s state funeral for the two young Cadets who were recently killed in battle. When I’d shown up wearing this instead, my entire family had stared at me in shock.

Of course, I don’t expect them to understand – how could they?

Redman Blythe and I were engaged in secret, after all.

God, how ironic is it that the enemy killed him only days before he was supposed to steal me away from the palace and this royal life that I hate?

That the day we were supposed to be married, we bury him instead?

“Junie?” mom says, tugging on my hand and drawing my attention back to her as tears well on my lashes, threatening to slip down my cheeks. She frowns at me, confused and desperate to help, as we follow the coffins into the Goddess’s temple. “Do you…want to take a minute?”

Mom gestures towards a little alcove set aside for private prayers and I nod, stepping towards it, not wanting the press to get pictures of the royal family’s youngest Princess sobbing her eyes out. Mom murmurs something about coming with me, but I beg her to let me have just a minute alone.

I glance at my mom over my shoulder as I rush to the alcove. Dad and my brother Mark likewise stand with her, looking after me with worry, and I do my best to give them a smile – especially my wonderful mom, who is so good to me. But I fail, my lips trembling as I turn away.

I sit down hard on one of the cushioned benches, burying my head in my hands, my shoulders shaking as I sob, the tears again rushing down my cheeks. The news of Blythe’s death in battle a few days ago took me by total shock – because he shouldn’t have even been there. He was just a Cadet at Alpha Academy – still in training.

But the war has grown so dire they called even the least trained warriors to the front.

And then he died, and my world fell to pieces.

Blythe – I never thought I’d fall in love, but he completely swept me off my feet. He was just so wonderful – so tall, and handsome, and funny, and just like me he didn’t care about any of the trappings of royal life.

He was going to save me from it. Take me away in secret, marry me so my family no longer had any grounds to pull me back to my old life.

We were going to be so happy, live by our own rules.

And now I’m here, all alone.

My wolf presses herself warm against my heart, trying to give me hope, and I sniff hard, sitting up straight and wiping my wrist across my face because I am so, so sick of crying. I shake my head against my grief, gritting my teeth, hating it - hating the entire universe for taking him away from me, wishing desperately that there was something I could do to fix it.

“Anything,” I say, my words resonating deep in my throat. “I would do anything to fix this – to bring Redman Blythe back into my life.” And even as I shut my eyes, snapping my head to the side with the fervency of my wish, I know with a wild desperation that it’s true – that I’d burn worlds to the ground to have him again in my arms.

A cold breeze blows through the room and my eyes widen when my alcove grows suddenly dim, the noise and music of the funeral becoming hushed, indistinct. I gasp, my breath coming short in my throat when I realize that while the Temple itself is still full of rich winter daylight…

My alcove is shrouded in darkness.

“Anything, Princess?”

I jump nearly out of my skin as I turn towards the dark purr of a voice, my eyes fastening in sudden terror on the hooded man standing suddenly before me. The wind blows the edges of his dark cloak, his face cast so deeply in shadow that I cannot see his eyes.

“Wh-what?” I gasp.

“You’re perfectly dressed for an Underworld wedding,” he continues, his voice silky and low. “Didn’t you know that, when you chose a black wedding gown”

“What are you talking about?” I can’t tear my eyes away from this mysterious figure, from the way his mouth quirks up in a wicked smile.

“The God of Death has heard your prayer,” the man says. “He wishes to make you an offer.”

I just stare, my lips parting, hope blooming darkly in my chest.

“Come with me,” the man says, holding out a hand. “We will bring you to your Underworld groom. And in exchange,” his smirk deepens, “we offer you the chance to bring your lover back to life. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I breathe, climbing suddenly to my feet and moving towards this man. “Yes, I would do anything to bring him back to life!”

“Then come,” he says, laughing low reaching his hand a little closer. “Let us make a bargain.”

I reach for the man’s hand, desperate to leap at this chance, but by wolf nips at my soul, bidding me to be cautious. I hesitate before my fingers touch this man’s palm, glancing back towards the room where I see my mother frowning, starting towards me.

“What – what are the terms of the bargain?” I whisper, anxious, whipping my head back to the man.

The corner of his pale lips turns up in a smirk. “I thought you’d do anything, Princess Juniper Sinclair.”

I glare at this man, fierce, not willing to play. “I will not make a fool’s bargain,” I snap. “You want me to go to the Underworld and get married? And then I have…have a chance to bring Redman Blythe back to life?”

The hooded man gives a simple shrug. “It is just a little game we’d have you play; the God of Death likes to be kept entertained. If you win, you will be granted a wish for anything in the world – including the plucking of a soul from the underworld and returning it to life. If you lose,” he shrugs, “you lose.”

I begin to pant and my wolf turns an anxious circle in my soul as we realize that he’s offering too much. Marry Blythe in the Underworld and then play some game to win his life back? There has to be a catch…but still – if there’s a chance that I can save him?

“What if I lose?” I whisper, terrified. “How do I know this isn’t rigged?”

“My Lord grows impatient,” the man growls, wind whipping again through the room as he holds his hand out closer to me. “My Lord offers no false bargains. Accept the terms now or the offer disappears. Forever.”

“Juniper?” I hear my mother call, her voice strangely muffled as she draws close to the alcove.

I gasp, knowing that my only chance is now.

If there’s a chance to get Blythe back? I have to take it.

I grit my teeth, shoving my hand hard against the man’s palm. “Deal,” I snap, fierce and determined to save my love if I can. No matter what the cost.

The hooded man laughs, tugging me close to his body and wrapping his arms around me.

“Juniper, no!” my mother screams, bursting into the darkness, reaching for me.

But it’s too late.

In a sudden rush of wind and shadows, I’m gone.

My breath pants from my lips as the wind and darkness rips around us. We only travel for a few terrifying moments before my feet hit hard against stone and light returns to the world, however dim.

I groan in horror at what I see – at the black sky that stretches for miles in all directions over the black marble terrace on which I stand. A sky lit purple at the horizon, with not a single star in the heavens. But three moons hang low and heavy in the darkness – one round and huge and orange, the others smaller but equally bleak.

“Where…where are we?” I breathe, terrified.

“You are in the Underworld,” says my captor, grinning at my shock and surprise. “What did you expect?”

I just pant, staring at him, completely overwhelmed. This can’t be real.

I shake myself, though, remembering my purpose. “Take me to Redman Blythe,” I order, lifting my chin like the Princess I am. “I want to see my groom.”

“Your groom?” the man says, leaning forward towards me with a wicked grin. “Little Princess, that boy is not your groom. You came to the Underworld to compete for the honor of marrying Prince Orion, son of the God of Death.” He gives a mocking little bow. “It is a great honor to be a candidate in my master’s game.”

“What?” I breathe, horrified and confused at once. “T-the Prince? A game!?”

The man laughs at me, straightening from his bow. “I was quite clear, Princess – it’s not my fault if you didn’t listen closely. You have come to the Underworld to be wed –“

“To marry my fiancé!” I burst out, livid. “Redman Blythe! Who is…is dead, who is here! Why the hell would I come to the Underworld to marry someone I don’t even know!?”

“You came,” the man snaps, “to compete with twenty other women drawn from the distances of time and space to be the Prince’s bride. What you do with the prize given at the end – should you win – is none of my concern. Though,” he tilts his head to the side here, crossing his arms.

“It would be rather traitorous and ironic for you to marry the Prince and then use the wish he gives you as his wedding gift to restore your lover to life. Not to mention a waste, as you’ll live here. Forever.”

I stare at this man in shock for a single moment before I bare my teeth. “This was a trick.”

The man just laughs and shakes his head, truly entertained at my rage.

“No trick,” he says, “just twenty girls, each…unique in their lineage, their abilities. Twenty weeks shall pass, with one girl eliminated each week. And at the end, one bride for the Prince – to rule over the Underworld at his side. And, of course, to produce heirs and continue the master’s dark lineage.”

I snarl at the idea that I’m expected to compete for the honor of being broodmare for some boy in his horrible place.

“I did not,” I seethe, stepping towards him and lifting my chin to renew my glare, “come here to play some ridiculous Bachelor of Death nonsense! You will take home right now!”

“I will take you nowhere,” the man growls, closing the distance between us in a single step and snagging me by the chin. “You have agreed to the terms and you will play. A girl does not make a bargain with the God of Death and simply walk away from it because she decides, too late, that she does not like the terms.”

I stare at this man in shock as I suddenly realize that I have made a terrible, foolish, rash mistake.

And may have paid with my life for the chance to save Blythe.

“Am I dead?” I whisper.

“No, child,” he purrs, stroking one finger along my jaw. “You are very much alive. Precisely as he wants you.”

I stare up at this man, shocked and terrified. My wolf howls desperately in my soul.

The man takes his hand from my face and takes a step away, sighing as if he’s bored. “Tomorrow evening you go to the Palace for the Opening Consort Selection Ceremony, where you will meet the God of Death and the Prince of the Underworld. Try to remember,” he sneers, “that this is a great honor and thousands would kill to take your place –“

“Let them!” I burst out, casting a hand to the side.

He snarls, sharp, cutting me off. “Clothing will be sent for you. Wear it. Do not disgrace yourself.”

He turns then and strides across the wide and luxurious bedroom attached to the terrace, heading for the door.

“Please!” I call, gathering my gown into my hands and stumbling a few frantic steps after him. “Are you – are you just going to leave me here!?”

He flicks his eyes up to me. “The God of Death again hears your prayer,” he murmurs, “and does not wish you to be lonely and afraid. He has given you permission to visit Nightgate, where the other mortals dwell.”

“What?” I whisper. “Where is that?”

My mouth falls open when I discover that we’re in…a tavern. I stare around in shock at the patrons who gather moodily around tables and the worn bar, their conversations lit only by low flickering candles.

The man steps away from me. “Call for me when you’re ready to leave.”

“What?” I gasp, spinning towards me.

He just gives me that foul smirk and disappears.

I turn back to the room, suddenly feeling…incredibly awkward.

But I set my jaw, lifting my chin and looking around, determined to get answers.

I stride over to the bar, pulling myself up onto a stool and looking around for the bartender, figuring that’s as good a place as any to start. I bite my lip, my mind whirring over everything that’s happened in the past hour, let alone the past week, the past few months.

“Well,” says a voice to my left. I glance over at the man on the stool next to me and do a double-take as he pushes a hood away from his face, revealing silky brown hair and rich coffee-colored eyes that scan me from head to foot. “You’re a bit…overdressed for a place like this.”

But I don’t have any words, my lips just parting slightly as I take in what can only be described as…

The most handsome man I have ever seen in my entire life.

I jump and blush when the bartender clears his throat, because I’d been so busy staring at the tall, broad-shouldered stranger that I didn’t even notice that the bartender arrived.

“All right, little lady,” the bartender says, smirking at me and leaning against the bar. “What’ll it be?”

“Um,” I say, ”I’ll have a glass of white wine?”

“There’s no wine here, missy,” the bartender says with a sigh, leaning forward towards me. “There are no grapes. What, newly arrived from an earth dimension?”

I just stare at him because…what’s an earth dimension?

The bartender smirks at me and shakes his head, glancing back at my neighbor. “She must be brand spanking new.” The stranger hums in agreement.

I scowl a little, folding my hands in my lap, embarrassed. “Well, what can I have?”

“Liquor,” the man says, giving me a nod. “Or, what the locals call beer but…” he grimaces and leans towards me. “If it’s your first day in the underworld you’ll want to…avoid that.”

“Okay,” I say, straightening my shoulders. “I’ll have…whatever you recommend.”

The bartender nods and produces a short glass. He sloshes some clear liquid into it from a cloudy bottle, pushing it towards me before he walks away.

“To your first day,” the stranger says, lifting his glass towards me.

I turn towards the stranger, curious, studying his face as I lift my glass and clink it against his. My eyes eagerly move over the sharp line of his jaw, his high cheekbones, his dark, slightly glowering brows…

But then I blush, remembering that I’m here in the Underworld to find my fiancé and bring him back to life. Not to ogle strangers.

“Bottoms up,” the stranger murmurs, smirking a bit at my pink cheeks. I do as he does, lifting the glass to my mouth and tossing the liquor back –

But I gasp immediately as the liquor absolutely singes its way down my throat. I sputter and choke, spilling the rest of the glass down my front in my desperation to get it away from me as I cough and hack so hard I see stars, trying desperately to draw breath.

“Whoa, girl!” the stranger says, patting me on the back with one hand as the other goes to my shoulder, keeping me on my stool.

Red-faced and still coughing into my fist, I glance up at him, both embarrassed and pissed. “What the hell is this!?” I rasp, gesturing towards my now-empty glass.

“It’s shadowroot liquor,” the man says, and I scowl again when I see him smirking. “Pretty much the only thing that grows here.”

“And you didn’t think to warn me?” I gasp more air down, starting to feel my head spin.

“Didn’t think you wanted to be warned,” he murmurs, signaling the bartender to refill his glass. “After all, a girl who sits at the bar in a black wedding gown but no groom in sight seems like she’s kind of…on a mission.”

I sigh sharply through my nose, looking down at my dress, now covered in sticky liquor. “Don’t get me started.”

“Don’t need to,” the stranger says as the bartender makes his way over. “I already know. You’re one of the Prince’s twenty brides, aren’t you?”

I whip my head up to stare at stranger in complete shock as he orders two more glasses of liquor, requesting that the bartender add some cherries to mine to make it more palatable. The bartender hesitates, glancing at me, but the stranger just waves a hand.

“How…” I whisper, my words coming back to me as the handsome stranger turns his attention back to me. “How the hell did you know that?”

“We don’t get a lot of new people here,” he murmurs, looking around the bar at the collection of particularly dull and despondent patrons. “And suddenly a bride shows up, alone, the day before the Ceremony?” He shrugs like it wasn’t much of a puzzle.

“Well,” I say slowly, looking askance at the drink the bartender puts before me, which is now the color of a garnet, a few cherries sunk at the bottom.

Eagerly I begin and find that my tongue is looser than I thought it would be. I spill everything out to this strange man, who lets me talk unimpeded. I tell him all of my great lost love, who died in the war – of wearing this dress to Blythe’s funeral, even though no one understood that I’m half widow half bride – of rashly accepting this horrible deal so I can save him – of finding myself here in the Underworld, of all terrible places.

“So, I was tricked!” I say, gesturing wide with the hand that now holds my half-full glass of cherries and liquor. The handsome stranger smirks, reaching out to catch my wrist so I don’t splash it everywhere. I frown as I look at his hand, and then at the drink because…when did I pick that up?

And when did I drink it?

“You were tricked?” he murmurs, putting me back on track.

I turn towards him with a frown.

“And what do you think of this Prince?” he asks, leaning against the bar and raising a brow at me. “No interest in marrying him?”

“Obviously not,” I say, appalled at the idea. “One, because I love my boyfriend, and two,” I swallow hard, suddenly parched, “what kind of loser needs his dad to organize a game so he can get married?”

The stranger huffs out a laugh, his eyes narrowing.

“Seriously he must be like, deeply ugly, in the face,” I say, gesturing towards my own face as I take a sip from my drink. “And boring and stupid with a bad personality. I mean, what kind of pathetic man has to trick twenty girls into a competition for the dubious honor of having his kids!?”

The stranger grins at me, a dark and cunning expression. “So, then you definitely don’t want to marry the Prince?”

“If I wasn’t tied to this stupid deal,” I whisper, leaning towards him and shaking my head, surprised to find that my words are more than slightly slurred, “and the fact that I gotta win to get the wish at the end…I’d run away screaming! I’d rather die than marry that idiot, whoever he is.”

“Well,” the man says, leaning a bit closer now, giving me a smile that shows all of his teeth. “You’re in the Underworld now, aren’t you? Perhaps that can be arranged.”

**

“Okay, little girl,” the bartender says with a sigh, shaking his head at me. “Time for you to get home and sleep this off.”

I wipe roughly at my face with the back of my hand and nearly falling off my stool.The man disappears. “What happened?”

“Shadowroot is about six to eight times stronger than whatever you were drinking on Earth, little lady,” the bartender says, giving me a sad smile. “You gotta watch yourself down here.”

“Hey, who was that guy?” I ask, wrinkling my nose at the bartender and leaning close. “He was cute.”

“Oh, sugar,” the bartender says, leaning forward to pat me on my cheek. “You don’t want to know.”