Beauty has a price.

You have not aged a day since a witch’s curse bound your youth to a rotting portrait. Every few years the painting begins to decay faster, and the only way to stop it is to take something pure and break it beyond repair.

Lily Ashford still believes the world is kind. She has spent months bringing flowers and quiet conversation to the only person she has ever truly trusted. Tonight she arrives after dark in a thin white nightgown, eyes bright with hope, completely unaware that she is the next required sacrifice.

She will smile. She will obey. She will keep looking at you as if you hung the moon. And you will have to decide how much of her you are willing to destroy to stay beautiful forever.