Fugitives of Fate

**Tenochtitlan, Mexico 1526—but not as history remembers it…**

*“Malinali, isn’t it?” Cuauhtemoc’s voice was liquid heat on her ears. “From Paynala?”

Startled, she stared at him; a dire protocol violation, but he’d ensnared her with his questioning gaze. “I was born there, My Lord,” she choked out as she wrestled her wits back. Fluster and confusion heated her cheeks. Who told him where she was from?

Cuauhtemoc folded his arms and smiled behind the finger he curled before his lips. “La Malinche,” he murmured, bemused. “Working in my palace!”*

Driven by fiery visions of the end of the world, Aztec Emperor Cuauhtemoc averted the Spanish Conquest, and now he seeks to end the inter-tribal fighting that would have condemned the empire. When he discovers a woman from his visions working in his palace, he knows he must win her trust: only the infamous La Malinche can help him turn his enemies into allies.

Malinali has spent her whole life in slavery, passed from one abusive master to the next, and to her, Cuauhtemoc is no different than the other noblemen who’ve made her years miserable. Cuauhtemoc, however, is a determined man, and with time and work, her suspicion turns into trust, and trust grows into love.

But is love enough to truly change destiny? Especially when the shadow of unraveled history threatens to turn them into the enemies they were meant to be?

**"Fugitives of Fate creatively reimagines the lives of two legendary figures, bringing life and humanity to a glorious empire that we only hear about in terms of its demise. I was thoroughly fascinated and enthralled." — Jeannie Lin, USA Today Bestselling Author**