The stories were lies. The nightmare is real. When twenty-two-year-old Alice Prince finds her childhood best friend murdered with a playing card pinned to his chest, she knows the police will never believe the truth. Because the card-the bloody King of Hearts-is an impossibility. A relic from the fairy tales her family has told for generations. Haunted by grief and visions she can no longer ignore, Alice follows a frantic, soot-stained rabbit down a London alley and tumbles into the Splintered Realm. This is not the whimsical Wonderland of her great-great-grandmother's stories. It is a kingdom rotting from the inside, choked by thorns, and ruled by a terrifyingly beautiful tyrant: the King of Hearts. Hunted from the moment she arrives, Alice is quickly captured by the King's forces. She expects execution. Instead, she finds herself facing a monster who is jaded, cruel, and cursed to watch his sanity and his kingdom crumble. He doesn't want her dead. He wants to use her. Forced into a dangerous bargain, Alice must help the King find a mythical artifact to break his ancient curse-or she will never see home again. But in a land where laughter precedes a knife in the back and even the flowers have thorns, trust is a death sentence. Her only ally is her greatest threat. And the undeniable, unwelcome attraction sparking between her and the dark, damaged King might be the most dangerous thing of all.