ALL IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS.
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU TRUST.

CHAPTER 1

“You are so beautiful, Lilla,” Callum says. He looks striking in his form-fitting, black military uniform, which emphasizes his tall, muscular body. The lapels of his jacket, turned to the side, reveal dark gray lining in a V shape. Colorful triangular buttons line up on the inside of the lapel in three rows. Tight black pants show the shape of his muscular thighs. Knee-high black boots complete his outfit.

I can’t look away from his blue eyes. They shine with so much love and happiness on his tanned face, framed by short black hair. A thin, jagged scar runs from his eyebrow to his strong jawline—evidence of the dangerous life he’s lived in his twenty-five years. A lopsided grin appears at the corner of his mouth.

Behind Callum, an orange-red sun ascends above the horizon. Along with it rises the already humid heat. It will become overbearing in a few hours. Small purple birds burst from the evergreen tropical trees, soaring across the cloudless, green-tinted, blue sky. They chirp and twitter, adding to the cacophony of the waking jungle.

Excitement raises goose bumps on my arms. I can’t believe today is the day our life together begins. The day I’ve been waiting for, ever since I invoked the Teryn traditional marriage proposal called Bride’s Choice on Callum.

With shaking hands, I smooth the front of my gray, sleeveless dress, ending in a wide skirt that does not reach my sandaled feet. So many feelings wash over me. Excitement. Worry. Joy. How I wish for the impossible that my mom and brother could be here.

I shiver.

Callum reaches for my hand, the calluses from wielding his longsword rasping on my olive-toned skin. “Are you nervous?”

I glance at him and raise my eyebrows. “Have you changed your mind?” We’ve only known each other a few months. During that time, we fought an archgod and survived; became separated for days; and learned that not all his family members were supportive of our pending union.

A soft breeze, scented with sweet flowers, tangles with my dark violet tresses, blowing them across my face and into my dark violet eyes.

He touches my cheek, his thumb rubbing a circle. “You didn’t answer my question.”

How do I find the words to explain that I am bursting with so much happiness, like I’ve never felt in my nineteen years? That I can’t wait for my Bride’s Choice claim to be honored by his father, Caderyn, praelor and ruler of the Teryn Praelium—the most dangerous empire in the Seven Galaxies? Yet I fear that something will happen to prevent us from getting married. “I’m not nervous. You?”

“Nothing could make me change my mind,” Callum says and tucks the loose strands behind my ear. “I am sorry your father couldn’t be here.”

I look away, trying to sort through my warring emotions.

My friends mingle among thousands of black-clad Teryn warriors who are getting ready to line up for our wedding ceremony, held on this orange-green planet in Galaxy Seven named Cathal. The location of my next mission as sybil, right hand and general to the Archgoddess of the Eternal Light and Order—one of the ruling archgods of the Seven Galaxies—or The Lady, as I like to call her. We’ve been stationed here for more than a week now but nothing has happened. Not. A. Single. Thing. That was the only reason Callum and I were able to wear down Caderyn’s resistance against this ceremony and convince him to officiate it now. We all needed a change from the monotony of, well, boredom. Hence the impromptu wedding, announced yesterday.

“I wish Father could have joined us,” I say, “but he could not have made the journey in time. He did send his best wishes and blessings when I talked to him this morning.” Our relationship will always be complicated, but at least we’re talking to each other.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Callum pulls me closer to him with a quick motion. I brace myself with a hand on his rock-hard chest.

I crane my neck to look him in the eyes. “Impatient, are you?”

He leans down and kisses my nose. “Very.” He places his hands on my waist and studies my face, drinking in my features. “I know this is not how you must have imagined your wedding—”

I press a finger on his lips. “I never wanted the pomp that came with the royal court even when I was a princess. Now that I am a princess only in name, I have even less need for it.”

We could not have picked a more perfect place for the ceremony even if we had tried. The clearing we’ve gathered in, not too far from the imposing black Teryn warship, is bursting with life. Flowers in all colors and shapes bloom around us—on branches and vines that snake around the thick trunks of yellow-tinted trees. Critters rush by, rustling leaves of the thicket that covers the ground in orange-brown patches. Pink-hued steam puffs from cone-shaped mounds from time to time. Sunlight sparkles on drops of water clinging to the wide leaves of the native plants. Three moons, each smaller than the next, line up in the distant sky in a half circle. Peace and calm saturate the atmosphere of the otherwise uninhabited planet. I wonder anew why The Lady sent me here with the whole Teryn armada, when there is nothing happening here.

I turn back to Callum. “Where is your family? They should have joined us by now.”

He kisses my cheek, then frowns in the direction of the black warship, the size of a small city. “They are late. More importantly, he is late.”

I stifle a sigh of worry. “I’m sure Caderyn will be here any moment.”

Callum shakes his head. “He’s always punctual. This is not like him.”

“Maybe if we wait a bit longer . . .” My voice trails off. Even I don’t believe Caderyn will show.

Callum growls. “I’m done waiting.” He reaches for my hand and adds, “We’ll drag the praelor here, whether he likes it or not.”