Book excerpt: All power comes at a price... Ruxandra learned everything she knew growing up in a convent. Training to be the perfect nobleman's wife, she relished the prospect of a simple life. But everything changes when her father, Vlad Dracula, retrieves her on her 18th birthday. Securing her a marriage is the last thing he has in mind... After performing a mysterious ritual over her, Ruxandra gains uncontrollable supernatural powers. Alone, terrified, and faced with an unknown future, Ruxandra is left to forge a new life for herself. There's only one thing she knows: if she doesn't learn to control her unnatural instincts, she'll destroy every last shred of her humanity.