A Thorn in Every Heart by Kate King

In a prologue, Thorn, current king of his world, has a problem that needs to be solved. He offers his brother, Daemon, the opportunity to help. Daemon, half-brother to Thorn, has been in prison for 90 years, and his exile, along with a few of his friends, will be lifted. Their task: to go to the human world, find the one who can save their curse, and bring her back. Her name: Isabell.

Alix is living her normal, mundane, married life. Not only that, she is a struggling musician and is trying to make the bills by playing her violin. During one of her events, her mom calls her; her grandmother, a famous fantasy author, had an episode where she seemed a bit mad and crazy. Her mom wants Alix to go back to her grandmother’s house to house-sit and take care of the cat. Alix says she has no money and can’t. After her show, Alix goes home to find her husband cheating on her with one of her friends. Alix runs away before her husband can say anything. That night, as Alix sits at a hotel, her mom sends her a video of her grandma when she went crazy; she starts talking about her fantasy book and how the characters and places are real. Alix decides that she is going to go back and help take care of the house with the last bit of her money.

The next night, after Alix gets to her grandma’s house, gets all settled in, then goes to a bar. While there, she meets a man named Daemon, who starts flirting with her. Alix goes with it, and the two end up going back to her house and sleep together. As Daemon gets up, he looks at one of Alix’s grandma’s books—the one that she wrote. He freezes and wants to know about the male on the front of the cover. He then looks at the author page and sees what he believes is a picture of Alix. Daemon looks at Alix, says “I am sorry,” then Alix blacks out.

Daemon realizes how lucky he is; one of the first humans he runs into is Isabell. He takes her to the fae world, where his friends are waiting and are surprised that he is already back. When Alix wakes up, everyone starts referring to her as Isabell, but she starts gathering more information rather than correcting them. She learns that Daemon has been in prison for 90 years and that bringing Isabell back is what will give him his freedom. Then Alix interjects and tells him that they picked the wrong woman—that it is her grandma Isabell, not her. Alix then learns about her grandma’s time in the fae realm. When she was brought in, she became betrothed to King Thorne, but the week before the wedding, he slept with another woman. Isabell ran away, and it turns out that the woman Thorne slept with was a witch. She decided to curse the land, and the only way to break it is for Thorne to find his true love in the next 100 years.

While Alix processes all of that info, Daemon meets with his friends. They start to debate what to do since they have the wrong woman. They decide that maybe Thorne will have forgotten all the details about Isabell, and they can just present Alix, as it has been 60 years since they last saw each other. Plus, Alix has the necklace that Thorne gave Isabell—the one that would make her stay young like an immortal. Daemon isn’t sure about the plan, but his friends tell him that he should trick Alix; say that she just needs to pretend for one month to be in love with Thorne. After that, the curse is either permanent or broken. What they decide to omit is that she will have to marry Thorne. Daemon presents the idea to Alix. She agrees since Daemon offers her a bunch of money if she goes along with the plan.

The group travels to the castle via train. Daemon stole the book from Alix’s grandma’s house and reads it. He tells Alix that there are a lot of similarities between the book and real life, so she can use that book as a guide on how to act. As the group gets closer, they realize the train is picking up speed. They have to derail the engine and fly away before they crash. Since they don’t make it to the castle, they go to an inn but have no money. Alix asks the bank to borrow an instrument so she can play a set. She gets enough money for their rooms. That night, Daemon talks to Alix. He has feelings for her but can’t act on them, as she needs to pretend to be in love with Thorne. They end the night not talking to each other.

The next day, the group makes it to the castle, and Alix is prepped to meet King Thorne. He is pleased to see her, and Alix plays her part. Things go well until Thorne mentions that they are to be married one week later. Alix is shocked and upset at Daemon. Then one of the guards tries to grab her, and Daemon flips out and attacks the guard. Daemon also gets a bit possessive when Thorne tries to touch her. But Alix is taken away so Daemon and Thorne can talk.

Time moves slowly for Alix. She feels like she is in a gilded cage with nothing to do. She also can’t get Thorne to like her—he won’t communicate with her. Daemon, meanwhile, has been tasked to be her guard, and he hates being with her constantly, although he does take her out on excursions often. The two continue to flirt with each other.

One night, Daemon comes to Alix’s door. She answers and realizes it was a mistake because Daemon gave her a rule—not to ever open the door during certain hours, even if it is him. He seems slightly off, but luckily one of his friends comes in and knocks Daemon out before anything can happen. The next morning, Daemon apologizes to Alix, saying that is what the curse will turn him into fully—an animal.

As the wedding gets closer, Thorne starts to question Alix, saying that she doesn’t seem the same. Also getting closer is her birthday. One of her lady’s maids tells Daemon they need to celebrate. He takes her and his friends to his mom’s house. They spend a night. Back at the castle, a guard named Farrow comes up to Alix and insinuates that he knows she is not Isabell and will tell the king. Daemon overhears and cuts his hand off, telling him to never look at or touch Alix again. That night, Daemon and Alix sleep together. Their night is cut short when Daemon needs to go hide and get away from Alix because of his curse.

The next night is the party to celebrate Alix and Thorne’s engagement. Thorne gives Alix a gift—something Daemon told Thorne to give Alix—a violin. She gets to play a bit, but as she is playing, a chandelier comes down and almost kills Alix. Luckily, Daemon takes the blow and she is saved.

While Alix is in her room, Daemon is with his friends getting healed. They talk about a mate bond and how it makes one feel possessed. Daemon starts to think that maybe he and Alix are bonded. He realizes it hurts to not be by her and wants to protect her. So he goes to talk to her, but when he finds her, she looks like she is sleepwalking—right off of her balcony. He grabs her just in time and starts to panic that he almost lost her. They sleep together again, but Daemon decides he wants answers. If Thorne loved Alix, he would care more about her almost dying, but it seems like he doesn’t care at all. They decide to go ask him. Daemon talks about all the times someone tried to kill Alix since she got there: the train, now the chandelier. Thorne agrees and says that they will all go to Daemon’s mom’s house to protect her.

On the carriage ride there, Daemon and Alix sleep together again, and while Daemon is speaking in another tongue, he lets slip one word—“mate”—and Alix starts to have her suspicions. When they arrive, they play their part. So much so that Alix starts to appease Thorne, but Daemon gets jealous and creates a distraction that makes Alix leave him and go straight to Daemon.

While at the house, Alix talks with Daemon’s mom again. She says she knows that Alix is not Isabell and then offers her a way back to her world. But if she wants to stay, she should go talk to a girl hidden away in the tower. That night, after sleeping with Daemon, Alix sneaks out and finds this girl. She is a witch—a daughter of the witch who slept with Thorne before Isabell left. The girl knows the exact wording of the curse that was put on Thorne and the kingdom. It doesn’t say he needs to find true love—it says he needs to find what he loves the most and sacrifice them. Alix runs to Daemon and tells him that most likely, she is going to die at the hands of Thorne. Daemon runs straight to the portal with her, says goodbye, and pushes her through the portal.

When Alix gets back to her mortal world, she contacts the police, and she is able to get back home. Her husband is there. She says she still wants the divorce and wants to never see him again. She then talks to her grandma, Isabell. She gets the full story of Isabell and how she fell in love with the kingdom. But the reason she went back to the mortal world is because she went into Thorne’s private rooms and saw a bunch of corpses—women who she suspected were past wives of his and his attempts to break the curse. Isabell helps Alix get back to the fae world.

As soon as Daemon pushed Alix through, he knew that she was his bonded. He has been in his bed, just waiting for the curse to take place. But his friends come in and tell him they need his help. The kingdom is chaos—they are rioting, calling for Thorne’s head. Daemon goes into the castle in attempts to help. He and his friends keep trying to find ways around the curse, so they break into Thorne’s room and find corpses. It hits Daemon—Thorne needs to sacrifice himself in order for the kingdom to be saved.

Alix made it back to the fae world and starts to travel to the castle. As she gets closer to the castle, she sees a winged male she believes to be Daemon coming to her. But as he gets closer, it’s Thorne. She starts to panic.

When Daemon goes searching for Thorne, he finds Thorne standing over the body of Alix—dead. With nothing left to lose, Daemon fights Thorne, and before he delivers the killing blow, he tells Thorne to do it himself to save his kingdom. He refuses, so Daemon kills him.

Daemon goes back to Alix and finds her still alive. He tells his friends and Alix they need to leave to save themselves before the curse hits him. They start to feel magic at work. Daemon is king, and he just sacrificed the one he loves—the curse has been lifted.

Daemon goes to his new people, tells them Thorne is dead, and he won’t be their king unless they want it—and they do. Finally, that night, Daemon and Alix get to talk about everything. Daemon reveals he knows that the two are soul bonded, and he wants to complete that—if Alix wants to.

In an epilogue, Isabell comes to visit after 60 years. The kingdom is recovering, and Daemon is making a fine king. The two live happily ever after.