Kalina’s sister is dying, and her last hope is the fabled fruit of the Kul forest which grants one wish to whoever picks it. Even though she’s spent her entire life working in her family’s bakery, she’ll brave the dark woods, find the fruit and use the wish to save her sister. She must.
Forced to remain within the boundaries of the deep forest, ex-king Illarion has spent millennia preventing all those that enter from taking what isn’t theirs. His one hope to leave his prison is to find the key that will release him. But after thousands of years without a trace, he’s stopped looking.
The forest doesn’t allow someone to come along and simply pick its fruit and walk away. Kalina is cursed, unable to ever leave the forest unless she steals Illarion’s key for herself. But that’s not the worst part. The dark king’s key? Well, it’s his heart, and she has to get him to remember how to use it. And she only has three days.
He’s not what she expected. She makes the monotony of his existence fade. How is there any chance between them when she must steal his heart, his freedom, and walk away forever?
