Free The Alpha's Courtship (Werewolf Romance) (Ilie and Soleil Book 1) by Marian Tee

GLOSSARY OF TERMS, NAMES, AND PLACES

    Academia Nu Exista (ANEX) – A self-governing school that officially does not exist; it is dedicated to aiding human students with special abilities to develop their full potential. Its administration is known to disapprove of relationships between humans and demons.
    Asphodel – The only territory in the kingdom of Chalys that is open to non-citizens. A technology ban has been implemented in the last 200 years or so to limits its carbon footprint. This prohibits the use of the Internet and mobile phones among others as well as making any modern mode of transportation unavailable. Generally speaking, citizens of Asphodel as well as the rest of the human population are unaware that inhabitants of the other territories in the kingdom are otherworlders.
    Chalys – A kingdom secretly inhabited by otherworlders; only one of its territories is open to human travelers. Access to other territories, namely Aquarius, Brimstone, Ciel, Lunare, Sangre, and Sulphur, is severely restricted. Both the otherworlder and human citizens making up the kingdom live and dress according to the customs and times of the Regency period.
    Charles Orpheline – A former soldier, Charles is now the Baron of Woodmere and father to three adopted daughters. All women have been saved from certain death, having been thrown away as infants because they were discovered to be ludifia.
    Galere – The collective term used to refer to the three powerful half-demon marquises that had made a blood bond to devote their lives to protecting the Demon Duke of Brimstone. This consists of Mihail Gheorgiu of Sangre, Adrijan Vasilache of Aquarius, and Ilie Marcovici of Lunare.
    Georgina McCartney – The human future duchess and heartkeeper of Silviu Draghici, the Demon Duke of Brimstone. She is also one of the fated potential heartkeepers for the Marquis of Lunare.
    Heartkeeping – A union that enables a demon or part demon to share the soul of his or her heartkeeper, thus preventing him or her from being completely chained to the demands of Hell. There may be more than one fated heartkeeper for a demon, but it is also possible for a demon to forcibly create such unions. Little is known about heartkeeping as most of the information is guarded zealously in Sulphur, one of the ducal territories making up Chalys and inhabited mainly by land-dwelling demons.
    Ilie Marcovici – The half-wolf, half-demon marquis who is second in line to rule the territory of Lunare, a land inhabited by shifters and governed by a demon duke, Ilie’s sire.
    Ludifia – Considered freaks of nature, they’re born completely mortal despite being the product of a human – otherworlder pairing. They’re usually thrown away in the Woods of the Wraiths to be eaten alive.
    Soleil Orpheline – The eldest daughter of Charles Orpheline, considered as one of society’s reigning belles and well-known for her remarkable sense of propriety. As part of the Trois Belle Lames, however, she is famous for her infallible pragmatism as well as having proven her mettle as a master tactician. She has been fighting since she was fifteen years of age.
    Trois Belle Lames – The Three Lovely Blades, a code name for a trio of skilled human fighters tasked to defend Asphodel from otherworlder threats. This group consists of the three Orpheline sisters, with Soleil as its leader.
    Woods of the Wraiths – The first line of defense of Chalys against humans, the Woods of the Wraiths is unchartered territory, inhabited by vengeful spirits living in the husks of its trees, ghosts of nymphs that had been massacred during one of the kingdom’s bloodiest wars. It is known to attack creatures, humans or otherwise, that venture into its land with the intention to harm the citizens of Brimstone and all those under the protection of Silviu Draghici.

CHAPTER ONE
    The city of Asphodel glowed like a brilliant diamond in a sea of emerald fields, with the noblemen’s mansions and townhouses