Iselda has lived in her sister’s shadow ever since Annora was exiled for practicing forbidden magic, leaving Iselda unmarriageable and unwanted. When Lord Mayson offers friendship instead of love, she refuses his proposal, as her heart yearns for the passion her sister found, not a convenient arrangement.
Then Iselda discovers her cousins’ mysterious secret: every night, they slip away to dance in an enchanted forest clearing, returning exhausted with worn slippers and no memory of where they’ve been. When she follows them into the moonlit woods, she meets Reynar — a young man with silver hair and eyes who warns her she’s in terrible danger.
Reynar serves a powerful mage who steals life force from young women through their nightly dancing, but he’s sworn to secrecy about his master’s identity. As Iselda finds herself immune to the spell that binds the other girls, she’s drawn to Reynar's mysterious charm and the fire in his kiss that no proper suitor has ever ignited.
But when a forced engagement traps Iselda in a web of magical manipulation and deadly family secrets, she discovers that some evils hide behind the most respectable faces. With her latent magical abilities awakening and her life hanging in the balance, Iselda must choose between safety and love — before the dance claims more than just her heart.
KEYWORDS: 12 Dancing Princesses, romantasy, fairy tale retelling, fairytale retelling, fairytale romance, fantasy romance, romantic fantasy
A native of Southern California, Christine Pope has been writing stories ever since she commandeered her family’s Smith-Corona typewriter back in the sixth grade. Her work includes paranormal romance, fantasy romance, and science fiction/space opera romance. The Land of Enchantment cast its spell on her while she was researching her Djinn Wars series, and she now makes her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.