Kiss of Death

Kiss of Death Tempting the Fates Book One Alice Wilde E-book Edition | Kiss of Death by Alice Wilde ©2023 Alice Wilde All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means–electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission from the publisher, except in case of including brief passages for use in a review. This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. For permissions contact: [email protected] Ebook ASIN: B0BSMC3CQR Contents Content Warning 1. Hazel 2. Hazel 3. Hazel 4. Hazel 5. Hazel 6. Hazel 7. Hazel 8. Hazel 9. Hazel 10. Hazel 11. Hazel 12. The Bargainer 13. Hazel 14. Hazel 15. Death 16. Hazel 17. Death 18. Hazel 19. Death 20. Hazel 21. Hazel 22. Death 23. Hazel 24. Hazel 25. Death 26. Hazel 27. Hazel 28. Death Thank You Also by Alice Wilde About the Author To the sacrifices we make for the ones we love. Content Warning Dear Reader, Thank you for picking up this first book in my series, Tempting the Fates. Please be aware that this is a dark plot-heavy fantasy romance with multiple love interests. Each book will end on a cliffhanger, until the series is complete. Please be aware that this series may not be suitable for all audiences, and certain not for all ages. If you choose to continue, please be prepared to encounter some language, mental/physical abuse, murder, kidnapping, violent behaviors, the mention of non-con and attempted non-con (not by the love interests), death, violence, choking, voyeurism, mutilation, monsters, gods, revenge, redemption, heartbreak, and descriptions that may otherwise trigger you. However, you will also find a great deal of wonderful and strange characters as well as angst, slow burn romance and eventual spice (this is not a fade to black series), and a cast of characters that is met and built slowly over the course of the series. All this being said, there may be other triggers within the series that I have not listed. The journey will not be easy for our leading lady, but well worth it in the end. Or so one can hope. Now, shall we begin … Tempting the Fates? Alice 1 Hazel Shutting the back door as quietly as possible behind me, I can’t help but flinch as the latch slips into place. I pause, hardly daring to breathe as I wait for the sound of approaching footsteps from within. Nothing. Exhaling softly, the air rising in a steamy puff from my lips, I turn and make my way through the garden. The earth crunches beneath my feet, and I fight off a shiver as I wrap my arms around myself for warmth. It shouldn’t be this cold, not yet. A glint of early morning sun catches my attention out of the corner of my eye, bringing me to a standstill. Frowning, I stop to look at the sunny marigolds my mother planted so long ago, their bright petals covered in ice. Glancing around the rest of the garden as the growing light brings it sparkling to life, I suddenly realize everything is blanketed in a fine layer of frost. My heart skips a beat in my chest as I gather my skirts to turn and dart down another path. Reaching the vegetable patch, I sink onto my knees as I stare at the damage the frost has done. Browned and wilted herbs and vegetation are sprawled across the earth, their lives cut short far too soon. I can’t help but feel like I’ve just lost several dear friends as I contemplate what to do next. Merelda is going to kill me for this, if starvation doesn’t take us sooner. I know this isn’t my fault, but I doubt my stepmother will see it that way. How was I supposed to know we’d get a frost this early? Let alone at all. Winter should still be a good two months away, and even then, it’s rare that we get more than a few weeks of it. Carefully gathering what is already too far gone of the vegetation, but still usable, into the makeshift basket of my skirts, I stand. I’ll have to make sure that I harvest whatever remains to be salvaged as soon as possible, but for now that’ll have to wait. Taking one last look at my poor plants, I turn to retrace my steps through the garden and continue on down the hill. Reaching the chicken coop, I unlatch the door to let them out for the day, smiling at the soft cluck of their greetings as I scatter the remnants of my plants on the ground for them to enjoy. Ducking inside, I collect what few eggs I can find, tucking them into the gathering of my skirts. “Come now, Florence,” I sigh to the broodiest of our hens as she chatters at me and fluffs up her feathers in frustration. “You know I can’t very well leave you nesting with a chick-less egg, sweet girl. Besides, I’m a little short on breakfast supplies this morning.” I can’t help but feel a little guilty as I slip a hand beneath her feathery skirts to extract the egg hidden beneath her, but I know it’s for her own good as well as it is mine. We lost our rooster several months ago, and we’ve yet to go to market for another. I make a mental note to mention this yet again to Father. Perhaps, if I can catch him alone before the others awake, he’ll allow me to go to market by myself. Gods know the last thing he needs right now is more work, and I’d be all too happy to have a day out of the house for once.