First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

Today’s First Lines:

It was the stuff of nightmares.

My grip was vice-like on the doorknob, my whole body tensed, ready for a fight. I stared at the stiff-backed man hovering at the entrance to my rooms, my vision blackening around the edges, the faint tang of metal on my tongue.

I had only just risen, and already the day had spun horribly out of my control.

Do you know which book this is from? Scroll down to find out!

Goodreads Synopsis

Prince Lyrian was never going to rule.

Not only is he the second son, he has a secret—he can manipulate anyone’s will as he pleases. But having any magic at all is considered a sin in Carith and is punishable by death. The only one he trusts to confide his secret in is his lover, Lord Vail Casart. It’s a necessary trust, since every use of Lyrian’s magic leaves permanent marks on his flesh.

But when the king suddenly announces that he is considering naming Lyrian as heir instead, he panics. After all, he can’t be king—not without his magic being discovered and being forced to set aside the man he loves for a political marriage. Lyrian decides that if the king thinks that his older brother is too weak and naive to rule, then he must take matters into his own hands.

For the first time, Lyrian embraces his hidden magic, manipulating his brother into the brutal ruler the kingdom needs. But brutality is against his brother’s nature, and such behavior doesn’t go unnoticed. And when a royal refugee from a neighboring kingdom discovers Lyrian’s secret, everything he’s meticulously hidden threatens to be uncovered. Before his secrets are revealed—and his love and life ripped apart—Lyrian must find a way to seize the power that he’s spent his entire life fighting to hide, or risk losing everything.

In a heart-wrenching new series perfect for fans of C.S. Pacat and Ben Alderson, Prince Lyrian Talis must reckon with his forbidden powers without losing his love…or his life.