“After ninety-nine punishments under the family rule, Clara Whitmore had finally earned her freedom to choose her own marriage. Dragging her weakened body, she hurried forward, desperate to share the news with her childhood sweetheart, Adrian Hayes. But what she saw instead froze her in place. Adrian was down on one knee, proposing-to Sienna Mercer, the girl who had once stolen her identity. "Sienna, marrying Clara was my responsibility... but loving you is instinct," he said. So love had been nothing more than a cruel joke. The man who once swore he would marry no one but her had already changed his heart. With her world collapsing around her, Clara dialed home. "I'll agree to the marriage alliance in Kingshaven," she said.”