Iliana peered unhappily at her maid as the woman continued fussing over her veil and gown. Lord Rolfe and the bishop had suggested she go upstairs and prepare for the wedding. She supposed it was their way of giving her time alone to face her fate.

It was a stunning blow…. And just one in a seemingly neverending series of late. The first had come a little more than two months ago with the news that her beloved father, Abod Wildwood, was dead. The second had been the form in which the news reached them. Those sad tidings had come in the person of Lord Greenweld, an ambitious baron who shared a border with their property. He had delivered the news with little more sympathy than he had shown while beating Iliana’s mother. The beating had been to force her to sign her name to the marriage decree he had brought with him. The effort had succeeded, though Iliana had since learned that it wasn’t the beating itself that had worked, but Greenweld’s threats against Iliana if her mother did not comply.

Out riding at the time, Iliana had returned just as the mock ceremony had ended. Before she had even really grasped the fact that they had guests, her mother had flown into her arms, nearly knocking her over as she blurted out the news. Iliana had still been trying to unravel the meaning of the words pouring from her mother’s swollen lips when Greenweld had torn the women apart and had Iliana removed from her childhood home.

Her mother’s cries had rung in her ears as Iliana had been bound, tossed unceremoniously into the back of a cart, and taken away like a common thief. Confused and in shock, she had found herself transported to Greenweld castle, two long hours ride from Wildwood. For three days she had lain in a guarded room and grieved the loss of her father. Refusing food or drink, she had simply lain upon the bed, sobbing. On the fourth day, however, she had awoken angry, her eyes filled with the image of her mother’s battered beauty and tear-filled eyes. Then she had begun to plan.

Escape was the only answer. To escape her guards at Greenweld, sneak back to collect her mother from Wildwood, and flee to their nearest relatives.

How naive she had been. How greatly she had underestimated her enemy, she realized now. He had removed her to Greenweld castle, far and away from everyone and everything she had ever known, to ensure Lady Wildwood’s cooperation while he’d seen to exerting his power over the people of Wildwood. And he’d been determined to keep her there.

Time after time, Iliana had tried to escape and time after time she had been caught, restrained, and finally beaten and locked in the tower. Then the baron himself had arrived, announcing that she was to be married.