Tragically Yours by Jamie Applegate Hunter

Here is a summary with spoilers for Tragically Yours by Jamie Applegate Hunter

Dean, heir to the Garden Kingdom, has searched everywhere for his mate, Fawn. He feels her all the time, but his father has never been able to track her down. Still, feeling Fawn’s happiness is enough to get Dean through his abused childhood, especially at the hands of his father and General Craven. One day, though, he feels immense fear from her, and then their bond becomes very fragile and soft; he does not know what happened.

Fawn, meanwhile, grew up in the human world as a half fae, half human. After a visit to the fae lands, her fae magic grows and she can cast glamours. Her parents decide it is unsafe for her to stay in the human world and travel to the mountain realm so she can grow up alongside her grandparents. One night, rebels come to their farm, and Fawn wakes up to find both of her parents dead. She feels as if she is dead inside as well.

It has been two years since Dean found out the name of his mate, and at fifteen, his father informs him that Fawn has died. During that same time, Dean gets his familiar, a snake named Cassandra. While devastated, he does not lose all hope and imagines that he can still feel Fawn every once in a while. Dean also meets with a gate named Lilith. She tells Dean’s father that if he continues to raise Dean the way he is, Dean will not live much longer, and the Garden Kingdom will fall with no heir. Lilith also tells Dean that he will need to marry and that his firstborn will be a girl who will be strong and very important to the future kingdom. Dean still will not give up hope for Fawn and even starts writing letters to her whenever he feels her.

Years pass, and Fawn decides to get a job at the Mountain Kingdom palace. She loves it, until she visits a pleasure house and decides to become one of their dancers. Her life is as good as she thinks it will be, especially since she now also has a fiancé, Warren. She soon finds out that Warren is actually with someone else and that Fawn is a job and he is supposed to kill her. When she hears that, she reveals herself, and Warren attacks her. But the other girl, Naomi, ends up killing Warren. The two become instant friends and hide the body together with the help of Fawn’s grandpa.

Dean, meanwhile, has chosen a new bride, Cali. He does not love her and does not believe he ever will, but Cali is in love with him. As their wedding gets closer, Dean takes over as king and decides that he wants to look for Fawn himself. When he goes to another kingdom’s wedding, he finds Fawn and immediately goes to her to tell her the truth. She is shocked, but as the two share parts of their stories, she realizes he is indeed her mate. Dean talks to her grandparents about her moving to his kingdom to become queen. While there, Dean finds out about Warren and is very concerned that someone was hired to kill his mate. He takes Naomi with them as well.

General Craven and a man named Samuel have a meeting together. They talk about Fawn, how their past attempt to kill her failed, and how Samuel wants her dead before she can get to the kingdom.

After a long, grueling journey (Dean wanted to get there quickly), the three make it to the Garden Kingdom. Cali is there immediately to talk to them, and she kisses Dean, which makes Fawn very jealous, much to Dean’s immense pleasure. On top of an unwelcoming Cali, Fawn also has to deal with rumors that she is just a human who has sunk her claws into Dean. While Dean is trying to comfort her and figure out what to do with Cali, Lilith the fate returns and asks to speak with Dean alone. Fawn is not sure how she feels about Dean but lets him go anyway. Dean learns that he is not allowed to banish Cali or do any harm to her; she needs to stay alive for the fates’ plan to work. Dean hates that and hates even more that he is not allowed to tell Fawn who Lilith is or why Cali must remain in the castle.

When Fawn finds out about Cali, she threatens to leave, so Dean puts a collar and leash on her just to make her stay. It is outrageous to Fawn, and while she is at a meal trying to escape with a knife, she accidentally stabs Dean. Cali is the closest healer nearby and puts her hands all over Dean, which once again Fawn dislikes. Cali continues to be in Fawn’s way, during dress shopping, in the castle spreading rumors, and even when Dean’s parents arrive back from their travels.

Even though they are not married, Dean introduces Fawn to his kingdom as his queen. They meet all sorts of people, and one man comes up to Fawn and talks about how he knows her body. That is when Dean finds out what Fawn used to do as a side job, dancing at brothels. He falls even more in love with her. But when Fawn shuts the man down, Dean decides to finish the job and kill him. Fawn is shocked and horrified when she finds out Dean also sliced the tongues out of anyone who talked badly about her.

Dean spends all his time trying to convince Fawn of his love for her, and they grow closer when he teaches her how to ride a horse. Every day, Fawn realizes she likes living with Dean.

Lilith comes to talk to Dean again, leaving Fawn alone. General Craven approaches her, and after a friendly conversation, he leaves. But in a POV chapter from the general, he reveals he thinks Fawn is too nice of a girl and will do the kingdom good. He cannot kill her and decides to take his family and run so Samuel will not find him. Meanwhile, Dean is being distracted by Lilith. She tells him he needs to stay away for a bit, but when Dean finds out the cruel general talked to Fawn, he runs to her. He finds nothing wrong.

Fawn agrees to marry Dean, and they start planning the wedding. She knows that Cali is crushed, meaning her chances are gone. Fawn and Dean cannot wait to start their life together and make plans to travel the kingdoms and start their family soon. They realize they can only have one biological child but plan on adopting a few.

Samuel has a POV chapter. He is furious that the general fled and did not kill the girl. Samuel will do whatever he must to put Cali on the throne, even if it means harming his own child.

As Dean continues investigating who came after Fawn and forged her death documents, he finds out it was his own mother. His mother knew who Fawn was from the moment she was announced as Dean’s mate, but she believed a half human would be too weak for her son. So she forged documents and led her son in a different direction. Dean sends his mother to the prisons. But Cassandra, his snake, interrupts him and tells Dean that something has gone terribly wrong.

Fawn wakes up and goes to find Dean, only to see him kissing Cali. She is devastated and wants space to think and find a way to convince Dean to take her back. She runs into the arms of Emi, Cali’s sister. Emi offers her home as a place to think, so Fawn and Cassandra go with her. While there, Emi stabs Fawn, revealing that she, her father, and the queen have been working together to create an illusion to get Fawn to leave so Cali could be queen. And if that did not work, Emi was supposed to finish the job. Fawn passes out, and Cali arrives, heals Fawn, and also gives Cassandra permission to attack her sister Emi.

When Fawn wakes, everything is revealed to her by Dean: his mother created an illusion for her to see, Emi is dead, his mother is imprisoned, and Fawn is safe. They plan their wedding for six weeks later.

A couple of years later, Dean and Fawn are happily married with their own little family, with Lilith close by as a motherly figure. They get to live their happily ever after.