The world pitched. The queen’s voice distorted in my ears, turning the other names into nonsense.
My body felt like a puppet held on a long, long string. From miles away, I told the puppet to fold its hands and mind its magic and control its expression like a good little girl, while the crowd parted.
Up the path leading to the dais, Bastian stared at me. To someone else, he might’ve looked calm and collected, but not to me.
His face was… empty.
The queen hadn’t told him she was going to do this.
That made the little puppet’s little puppet heart hammer—a silly little drum in her chest.
It wasn’t part of some plan they’d concocted together to… I don’t know… send me to Dawn to spy on them, then marry me in secret to Bastian before revealing our marriage, so they were forced to let me go home to him.
Home.
My eyes burned.
Home.
He was home.
“Approach.” A commanding voice broke through my fractured thoughts, and King Cyrus smiled at me, holding out his hand.
Someone prodded me in the back. One foot, weight forward, then the other. It was like I’d never walked before—I had to tell my body to do every part of the motion.
“Kat, don’t.” Ella grabbed my arm, but someone hissed at her to stop and Perry pulled her hands away.
Near the front, I spotted a hateful head of red hair, and Uncle Rufus gave me a wide, wide smile.
But I glided past him, strings pulling me onto the dais.
I spared Bastian only the briefest glance. If I looked at him a moment longer, I would throw myself into his arms and refuse to go.
Pathetic, but all I wanted.
Jaw clenched, I dug my fingernails into my palm.
I needed to do this. I could help assure the peace. And there would be some way to get back. Eventually.
One step up the dais. Two.
The queen’s mouth curled.
She’d done this deliberately. What better way to get rid of me than sending me to Dawn? Hadn’t Bastian always warned me about setting foot in that side of the palace? Hadn’t he feared what his enemies might do once they knew I was important to him? Now everyone knew, and the queen had placed me in their hands.
The world throbbed in time with the pounding in my head. I yanked in my magic as I realised it wasn’t my pulse but that of the power around me. The last thing we needed today was for another king to get killed.
I clung to that thought—beautifully practical—as I approached the new Day King.
Eyes soft on me, his smile was almost kind, like he understood my shock and horror. His hand moved an inch higher and I blinked at it dumbly for a second before taking it.
His skin was warm and smooth, and a faint masculine scent wafted up my nose as I bent closer, closer.
Some instinct shrieked at me, but I didn’t understand the words. Alarm. Danger. That much I knew. Hadn’t I always understood those things?
The moon’s darkness slid off the sun as we entered the last phase of the eclipse. Light hit the king’s cuff, twinkling on the intricate stitches of Dawn Court’s rising sun.
As I brushed my lips over his knuckles, my breath caught.
In the embroidered insignia glittered thread made of scarlet entwined with gold.
The king’s smile widened, showing his sharp teeth. “Welcome to Dawn, Katherine. It’s going to be a pleasure to have you.”
Kat and Bastian’s story continues in A Promise of Lies.
Pre-order and send your proof of purchase to [email protected] to get the opening chapters ahead of release and be in with a chance of winning a hardback copy.
Read on for a note from the author…
Author Note
Last time I started my author note with “Welcome to Tenebris-Luminis!” I suppose this time I’ll say: Welcome to Dawn Court!
Yeeeeah. Sorry about that. But I swear I have a plan. （For starters, I can now tell you why this was always conceived of as a trilogy—three courts, three books, see?）
Dropping Kat in Dawn aside, I hope you enjoyed reading this second part of Kat and Bastian’s story.
It has been a real journey for me as well as them.
I was so nervous releasing A Kiss of Iron. I put so much into it—of myself, of aspects of the world that troubled me, of dark things that have happened to others… and I was afraid others wouldn’t like it.
It isn’t for everyone, of course—no story is.
But wow, was that book for a lot of you. The reception has been overwhelming in the best possible way. So I really need to start this author note by thanking you for joining me on this journey and for all the love you’ve given Kat and Bastian.
Many of you have messaged or emailed me to say how much you resonated with Kat, and I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again…
I’m both touched and saddened.
Saddened because I wish no one could relate to her trauma and to its aftermath. In an ideal world （which I truly wish this was）， her experience would be pure fiction.
Unfortunately too many can relate to that.
But since we live in this very much not ideal world where some people do some awful things to others, I’m touched that many people could see themselves in Kat.
She’s not a warrior heroine like Xena. She’s not kicking arse and taking names.
But she is strong.
And I wrote her for all the real women and NB folk out there who aren’t like those “strong female characters” but who have gone through SHIT and yet are still able to go on and be kind to others and loyal to their friends and fight without any blade.
That is its own kind of strength and I am in awe and love with every single one of you.
Many of you have also told me how much you’ve loved seeing a heroine like Kat—a woman with thighs for daaays!
And I hope you enjoyed getting to see Bastian giving those thighs their appropriate worshipping after the… well… frankly, edging of A Kiss of Iron （Sorryyy!!!）。 （Someone may have called me the Queen of Edging. As titles go, I’ll take it!）
I hope you can all forgive me now.
And, as a reminder, I always promise my main couples an HEA… eventually. So although I’ve left Kat and Bastian split between two courts, you know they’ll find their way back to each other.
I’m so excited for the last instalment of their story, and I can’t wait to share it with you in 2024.
In the meantime, please consider leaving a review of A Touch of Poison （and KOI, if you haven’t yet） on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Reviews are so important for helping to spread the word. They help other readers to find books they’ll love, which gives you new people to chat with about them! <3
I always love hearing from you—feel free to drop me a line （[email protected]） about your favourite scenes or tag me in social media （I’m on Instagram the most @claresager）。 I do try to reply to all messages, but I apologise if it takes a while or if I somehow miss you.
Another way to keep in touch is by joining my newsletter （https://claresager.com/freebook/） where I share sneak peeks, behind the scenes news, and giveaways, as well as some free stories that are only available to subscribers. It’s where you’ll find out launch info about A Promise of Lies.
Finally, if you really, really want to be the absolute first to find out all the info, see new artwork, get your hands on NSFW art, and read deleted scenes and bonuses, you may want to support me on Ream. It’s like Patreon, but it’s made specifically for authors and readers and is spice friendly.