"Father, I'm sorry, but I cannot obey you on this. I will never marry her," I say. I can't really believe I'm defying the king; it all feels like a dream.
"Oh, believe me, son, if it's the last thing I do, I will make you marry her, whether you want to or not!" is the furious, yet firm response.
I run from his presence. He was my father. I was the prince. That ends tonight.
Tonight, I run.
----
His father wants him to marry a noblewoman, daughter of a family who is second only to theirs. He believes in true love and wishes to achieve it. He will never bow to his father's whims.
So he runs.
He strikes a deal with a witch to disguise him as a hideous man and is taken in as a servant to a high ranking family. And ,somehow, the daughter of the household falls in love with him. But problems emerge. His deal comes back to haunt him.
But this time, he will fight for her. This time, he will stand strong.
So he runs, charging towards danger.
As Claire aims to leave her oppressive stepfamily behind, she befriends Zion. Will he be her ticket to freedom or a distraction in achieving her dreams?
*****
Claire Olsen has had a crush on Zion Petrakis since the first time she laid eyes on him, but he never noticed, instead only having eyes on the school's it girl, Maddie Jennings. Knowing she couldn't compete with Maddie, Claire hid her feelings for Zion, satisfied with admiring him from afar. However, when a series of events led Claire closer to Zion, her feelings for him grew from infatuation to love. And despite fighting hard to keep her feelings contained by distancing herself from Zion, he was determined to show her that he's earned a spot in her life.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]