Marryn Yarrow prepares for everything. Even her own death.

In one fortnight, she will get her long-awaited chance to wither away on the twisted throne of Winstow — sworn to give the rest of her painful life healing her mist-locked realm from the Sherwood Stillness. Magic is not without cost, and therefore, neither is treatment. The masked leader of the Arrows, known only as “Hood,” has been terrorizing Winstow’s wealthiest to keep its poor alive, and he knows of an old, outlawed folktale that says to break the curse, the line of queens that perpetuates it must come to an end.

Marryn has already read it from the shadows of her castle’s ivy walls. Death does not scare her nearly as much as becoming the villain. She sent word ahead. She was precisely where she was required to be. What she could not plan for was the legendary marksman to miss. Or for herself to have been secretly placed under the queen’s protection spell. Apparently, it will not be enough to die for her cause. She must be willing to live for it.

There is another way Marryn might break the curse, but that plan demands outside help. Deep in the mist, she strikes a deal in the dark: for every one of the forbidden fairy tale’s five deadly trials that the devilish scoundrel helps her find, the benevolent would-be queen will steal one of her castle’s most valuable items. There is no room for errors or stray arrows. If either is caught or killed, they will not just fail to break the curse — Marryn will be forced to become it herself.