TS

To the Dwarves of Erebor, she is nothing but dead weight—a beautiful little bird lost in a den of wolves. When Morwen arrives at Bag End at the side of Gandalf the Grey, she looks entirely out of place. Notably short, slender, and possessing a breathtaking, delicate beauty, she is instantly written off by Thorin Oakenshield as a fragile human liability. The younger Dwarves pity her; the King Under the Mountain disdains her. They have no idea that her porcelain features mask a forty-two-year-old apex predator of the northern wilds. As the secret eldest princess of a fallen kingdom, Morwen has spent decades hunting in the shadows, living in the dirt to shield her ten-year-old brother, Aragorn, from the dark forces sweeping Middle-earth. She doesn't need the Dwarves' gold, and she certainly doesn't need their protection. Keeping her lethal skills completely hidden, she silently plays the role of the fragile companion, content to act as a secret guardian angel to a bewildered Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. But when a savage pack of Orcs corners the company on the plains, the illusion must break. To save the line of Durin, Morwen unleashes a demonic, cold fury that leaves the company completely shell-shocked. For the first time, Thorin looks into her sea-grey eyes and realizes he didn't bring a helpless court lady on his quest—he brought an exiled monarch who carries a burden just as heavy as his own. Forced to stand eye-to-eye in the wild, a fierce, slow-burning respect sparks between the displaced King and the secret Princess. But as the shadows of Erebor lengthen and gold-sickness begins to rot Thorin’s mind, Morwen realizes she must risk her brother's secrets and her own life to anchor the King to his sanity—or watch the man she has come to love destroy everything he fought to reclaim.