But I'm an old man, my lady, and very saddle sore. 'I could use your insight on a few matters concerning Herran. Later.' His eyes slid slowly to glance at the Valorian soldiers lining the hall, then met Kestrel's gaze again and held it. 'We should talk about the hearthnut harvest. The lamplight traced the plain gold ring he wore. 'Oh, yes.' Tensen waved a negligent hand. 'You wrote me a letter.' Her voice sounded strained. His green eyes were small but clever, his wrinkled skin darker than hers. 'No one is ever excited to meet the minister of agriculture.' 'I get that disappointed look all the time,' Tensen said in a cheerful tone. At her own bare feet and how they were proof- pure, naked, cold proof- of her hope, her very need to see someone that she was supposed to forget. And Arin declines?' Her anger was folding onto itself in as many layers as her ball gown- anger at Arin, at the way he was committing political suicide.Īnger at herself.

' Kestrel pressed a palm to her forehead. 'Tensen, the Herrani minister of agriculture.' She glanced down, and only then realized that her feet were freezing, that she'd forgotten even the existence of shoes when she'd left her dressing chamber and hurtled through the palace for all to see, for the Valorian guards flanking the reception hall to see right now. 'I thought the barbarian days of the Valorian empire were over,' the man said dryly. She couldn't help looking over his shoulder for Arin. The Herrani representative was an elderly man whose thin frame leaned heavily on his walking stick. He was waiting in the reception hall, A lone figure lost in the vast, vaulted chamber. The truth will come out, and when it does, Kestrel and Arin will learn just how much their crimes will cost them. This dazzling follow-up to The Winner's Curse reveals the high price of dangerous lies and untrustworthy alliances.

and she is close to uncovering a shocking secret. Yet she can't help searching for a way to change her ruthless world. If caught, she'll be exposed as a traitor to her country. But can Kestrel trust Arin? Can she even trust herself? For Kestrel is becoming very good at deception.

As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement: that she agreed to marry the crown prince in exchange for Arin's freedom. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. It means one celebration after another: balls, fireworks, and revelry until dawn. HEA shares an exclusive excerpt from Marie Rutkoski's YA fantasy The Winner's Crime, book two in the Winner's Trilogy, which comes out March 3.Ībout The Winner's Crime (courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux):Ī royal wedding is what most girls dream about.

The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski