Synclare "Sync" Thornwryght is just one of the Twenty-One crime syndicate heirs. He's the weakest, the angriest, and the one most likely to fade into obscurity because no one knows what he really wants in life-and he really doesn't care. Maybe no one would burn him with cigarettes there.

After rumors spread that not all the Twenty-One were of the same paternal bloodline, DNA tests provoked a new disappointing reality. Sync becomes the One-the only actual living heir to the Thornwryght throne. Sync's father commands his personal bodyguard/driver, Tacyturn, to protect Sync from assassination-his last unfortunate hope to keep the crime syndicate in the family. Before Sync can dare to show his face back home, he must prove himself worthy of the throne by surviving the manhunt led by his ex-siblings.

S.M. Stiles is a fantasizer who spends way too much time thinking about worlds and beings who don't exist-and then inevitably became a writer so that they could exist in the form of stories. Stiles dabbles in drawing beings into existence, as well. Outside of a spirited imagination, Stiles lives a down-to-Earth life in the Palouse with three sons, three cats, and one husband.