There are even scenes that play out from different points of view in the two books. The stories overlap in time, and there are recurring characters, especially between this book and the one before it. While you might be tempted to read this story without having read the first two volumes, that would not be advisable.

The focus of this book is Jamil, the older brother of Seyn, one of the protagonists of the second book. Like the previous book in the series, That Irresistible Poison, “Once Upon a Time” explores the relationship of another member of one of the royal houses of Calluvia. It's just the start of a relationship that could prove disastrous for both men. Rohan is also drawn to Jamil, and isn't what he seems to be. The man, Rohan, is breaking all safety protocols, but Jamil is unable to do anything but stare at him. Unable to sleep one night, he finds himself in the royal stables, were he encounters a man trying to break one of the wild flying horses on his own.

He loves his mother, but his attraction to Warrehn is like a powerful drug, consuming him and changing him in ways he hasn’t expected.Crown Prince Jamil is still feeling the loss of his bond-mate months after the prince consort was killed when his aircraft was supposedly shot down by “rebels” in the high mountains. They have no future together when Warrehn and his mother are determined to crush each other. He knows this thing between them is hopeless. Warrehn unsettles him and makes him behave like another person entirely, someone Samir barely recognizes: someone desperate and shameless.

Samir has never been the object of such intense hatred-and such intense passion. Unfortunately, protecting his mother means being part of her plans to keep Warrehn from the throne, which only makes Warrehn despise him more.īut when he and Warrehn are thrown together in circumstances beyond their control, they have to learn to put up with each other. Samir never thought he’d have to play the part of the villain. He knows Samir can’t be trusted, but Warrehn can’t seem to stay away from him. When he returns to reclaim his throne, all he wants is to punish the usurpers: the woman who killed his family, and her son, Samir, who has grown up to be as beautiful and as poisonous as his mother. His family brutally murdered and his throne stolen, Prince Warrehn has planned his revenge for twenty years.

Dearly despised alessandra hazard