A Leash and a Hand

Tamsin Calder is a Warder, an indentured curse-grounder trained to keep every tether severable. Then the Order gives her Crown Prince Lucian Veyl, whose Devouring has already burned three royal tutors hollow.

Her grounding is the one hand his curse will not burn. It works only skin to skin, deeper and more dangerous the more violent the surge, and the professional Ward-Bond they strike is supposed to remain a leash she can cut.

The Order forbids a Warder to let the tether cross into a true bond. The court forbids a prince to bind himself to a commoner servant. But when the Conclave moves to Seal Lucian for good, the forbidden bond they are trying to hide may be the only proof that he is controlled because Tamsin chooses to hold him, not because anyone commands her to.

They gave me the prince whose magic burns hollow anyone who touches him, and told me to keep him on a leash I could cut. No one warned me a Warder who lets the bond go deep can never let go again, or that he would want me to.