A Pocket of Lies by R A Sandpiper

BLOOD BOUND AND PENNILESS. EXILED INTO CURSED LANDS. HUNTED BY DEATH. When the thief Suri suffers a humiliating robbery, she has one day to pay off an ugly debt. Her solution: abduct and impersonate a foreign princess at the royal ball. But the wickedly handsome fae lord of the wasteland, Kol, has gatecrashed the party to find the princess she’s pretending to be. And worse, his bodyguards are the same ones who robbed her the night before. With Suri’s knife lodged in Kol’s right-hand man, stolen trinkets in her pockets, and now her kidnapped princess missing, she can't outrun the law. The King exiles her with one condition: assassinate Kol, and all is forgiven. But Kol has promised his own brutal revenge against her—if his wastelands don’t kill her first. In this fast-paced fantasy debut, expect a powerful adventure, lots of twists and turns, and the start of a slow-burn romance.

Adult • Fantasy • Fantasy/Court Intrigue • Fantasy/Epic and High • Fantasy/Dark • Fantasy/Romantic and Erotic

Content Warning: strong violence, slavery, reference to a sexual assault (not depicted in the text) and childbirth (not depicted in the text)