A thrilling, dangerous adventure, this digital prequel novella to C. J. Redwine's Defiance and Deception features Quinn, a popular character from the series.

Quinn Runningbrook knows a hundred ways to kill a man and make it hurt. He can track, ambush, and torture his prey with terrifying skill—just like his father taught him. But every kill consumes another piece of him, and Quinn longs to stop, to save himself and his sister, Willow, from becoming like his father—a man who kills for entertainment.

But when Quinn refuses to torture a group of trespassers caught too close to the Tree Village where his family lives and instead kills them quickly, he disobeys a direct order from his father . . . and Willow is forced to take his place. Suddenly, Quinn isn't the favored apprentice to the family business of "protecting" the Tree Village anymore. Willow is.

When Jared Adams—a courier from the nearby city-state of Baalboden—is caught...