I am Maxen Ash Colchester, and I swore a duty to my country. Then I swore my heart to them.

When I went to war, I was taught to never leave a soldier behind. But he left me. Twice.

They say that every tragic hero has a fatal flaw, a secret sin, a tiny stitch sewn into their future since birth. And here I am. My sins are no longer secret. My flaws have never been more fatal. And I’ve never been closer to tragedy than I am now.

I am a man who loves, a man whose love demands much in return, burning through the ones I care for until they have nothing left. I am a king, a king who was foolish enough to build a kingdom on the bones of the past.

Love was always the end of our story–mine, and Embry’s, and Greer’s. It just might be the end of us, too.

Long live the king.