{"product_id":"2940153924823","title":"The Dragon's Captured Bride","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe defeated daughter of the Resistance leader receives her fate: to be named and bred like the snowfoxes the Emperor keeps. What she doesn’t know is that her mate is a shapeshifter, and he likes to mix his forms for pleasure.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSnippet:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA funeral hush filled the room, then the trickle of translations for mute elbows and confused expressions. Noise grew to a roar, the battle-cry of water rushing out open gate to flounder the encampment in the plains below. That was how I envisioned the antiquated courtroom as it digested my comments: it being empty one minute, filled to its wood paneling the next.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Arms Master raised his gaze to mine, those champagne yellow eyes asking why. Why had I listed my crimes so? What a simple answer! Ever since he had entered the alley to the grand house where people hid, ever since he had challenged me, ever since he had struck the spear from my hand and taken me alive, I knew I was a dead woman walking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis way, my death could mean that the Emperor would suppose my father weakened, or cease his efforts to find who had done my deeds. Hidden as the Resistance was amongst the mountain cabins, there could be little doubt that it was nearly dead. My execution was all but guaranteed—after all, others had died for less than my first crime alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy did my confession—or was it a boast—cause the Arms Master to curl his fingers around the edge of his thick robe? He had an angular jaw and harsh, hollow cheeks rarely seen outside of the villain in a movie. His black hair was tied in three places along his skull, turned over in a ball at the nape of his neck. Though he’d worn red in battle, now he wore robes midnight blue with trimming as silver as starlight. Knuckles swollen and bruised and often broken released their hold on the woolen fabric at the Emperor’s laughter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlump as a ptarmigan and dressed in black with gold, the Emperor’s chortles rolled his belly and quieted his court. No one else thought my crimes one to be laughed at. Several had lost friends, family, or comrades thanks to me. The Emperor, alone, laughed harder and harder until his face was plum red and his belly couldn’t settle between ripples.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePresently, he stopped laughing and made his proclamation:\u003cbr\u003e“You are the daughter of the Fox, hn? A fox princess, hn? Pale as porcelain, and every bit as cold.” The Emperor stroked his face, thinking. “Snowfox, that is what I will name you. Do you know what we do with snowfoxes if we capture them alive?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI did not, but I didn’t think he expected a reply. He didn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“We breed them. It improves the stock, to get fresh blood in the lines. And the snow foxes, they stay wild as ever, but they won’t leave their pups behind so the remain even when the doors are open and the woods call to them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI suppose that could be why he kept me. To improve his stock. Or because he knew it would humiliate me and my family to be bred like an animal. Maybe it was to show me off as a prize. Perhaps this was said merely to toy with my mind. As troublesome as I was, though, I expected that he would soon lose interest in antagonizing his quarry, and that soon I would be beheaded.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Emperor wasn’t through speaking yet. “Snowfox, pick your mate.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDid he think I was going to agree to this? That I would choose to be breeding stock? My fingers trembled and I knew I was afraid. Should the man I selected be a monster, it would be me who had picked him. Should I bear children, it would be by my actions. How far could I say I was forced, how far did I consent?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“No,” I said, softly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Emperor was unruffled. “If you do not, I will order your wrists and ankles shackled to a wheel. I will auction every day the honor to service you in front of all in court until you have birthed three children. And every day you refuse to pick your mate, another girl will join you on her own wheel.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI had little doubt that the Emperor would make good on his threat.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nicolette Jinks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47149890601200,"sku":"2940153924823","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940153924823_p0.jpg?v=1764059679","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940153924823","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}