When his younger sister is propositioned by the Tyrant King, Aster steps in to take her place. Just when he fears he must face this fate alone, the King assigns Rowan the Black to protect him—an Enforcer Knight with a tortured past. Despite his cruel reputation, Aster can't shake the feeling that Rowan is familiar to him. Haunted by memories of his lost childhood sweetheart, Jace, Aster must now navigate a veritable political chess game he wasn't at all prepared for. 

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“Flowers like the rose are needed for so many reasons,” Aster said. “The ground needs their roots, bees need their pollen, and animals need their leaves. So they do what they can to survive, by any means necessary. Does that mean a rose is evil for growing thorns?” He looked up at Rowan.

Rowan kept his eyes on the rose. He didn’t seem convinced. “A single rose has never caused as much pain as I have, Aster.”

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Broken Vows is created by Alex Agar, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author. 

BRoken Vows

Honestly, he expected his mother to be angry. He could practically feel the fury radiating off her as he walked at her side through the manor. He hated how quiet her anger was—such powerfully contained energy in such a small form. He would prefer it if she yelled or hit him; anything more than just silence. 


But Aster only got more and more tense the longer the silence dragged on. If he knew his mother, there was definitely a reason she wasn’t speaking yet, so he held his tongue as well. She wouldn’t have said that she needed to talk to him if she wasn’t going to speak, so there must have been a significance in their destination.


She led him to the northwest corner of the manor, up the oldest structure in the place: the Northwest Tower. It wasn’t the tallest, nor was it the prettiest, but the stones that lay beneath its plaster were older than the Silvercrest family name. 


Chapter 17: Twin Stars