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It was so long ago that Hasten can barely remember, and tries valiantly not to, that he was a smiling, happy, gentle, timid little boy, who loved lace and dolls, flowers and jewels, hugs and kisses and laughter. The man he's become is so different from the boy he was, the boy may as well have died.

As a child, Hasten enjoyed playing in brooks, climbing trees, and braiding flowers into hair with his younger sister, Amaeyra. Amaeyra meant to world to him, and the two of them were inseparable. However, Elmudd of Lireth could not abide his son and heir behaving like a girl, weak and humiliating, and so he refused to let Hasten leave Lireth and refused to let anyone see the boy until he was deemed suitable. The process of making him suitable involved years of abuse both physical and emotional, years of impossible expectations with harsh punishments for failure and few rewards for success, years of neglect and insults and firm, harsh control. He was trained in every skill important for a Lord of Lireth to know, the lance, the horse, history, languages.

When Hasten was eventually good enough to be Lireth's heir, exceeding every expectation put before him, strong, handsome, commanding of respect and love, he was also hard, angry, and bitter, and only twelve years old.

Despite never revealing the depth of the effect his father's treatment had on him, even to Amaeyra, who could plainly see it, Hasten grew not to question what Elmudd had done to him. He hated him, loathed him, wanted nothing more that to rebel and defy him. And he loved him, idolized him, worshipping him, willing to do anything and sacrifice anything to gain his approval. Elmudd had been cruel, but as a result, Hasten had become perfect, transformed from the embarrasing, weak child he'd been into a man who all admired, respected, and idolized. All Hasten's doubts and anger were pushed under the surface, he obeyed Elmudd unconditionally in everything that was asked of him.

Until Elthea ran away from home.

Hasten's younger sister had always been the exception to a family of overacheivers and idols, a weak, timid, spineless girl who was as invisible as she was fragile. Hasten had viewed her with contempt for a long time, unable to see why she chafed and broke under treatment gentler than that which he had been shown. When Elthea ran away suddenly, however, it was left to Hasten to take a garrison of soldiers and find her. He searched for two and a half months, until his journal suddenly began talked, and he found that Amaeyra had found Elthea ... and Elthea had gone mad. She spoke against his father, their family, everything he had forced himself never to question, and doubts began to raise in his heart. The family attempted to ignore her and silence her, and for a time it worked, as Hasten courted Felicia of Mansoure and Amaeyra did the same for the disgusting, arrogant Tarmon of Emeron ... but Elthea's words finally made their mark before she took her own life, and Hasten swore to Amaeyra he would conspire against their self-serving father to find a man who would make her happy.

He plotted with Amaeyra, Elmudd's own knights, Lawrence of the supposed House Franel, anyone he could hope to trust to wed Amaeyra to anyone not Tarmon who his father could not argue to. In the pages of his journal, he became more angry and bitter at Elmudd, frankly admitting that he was sick of his expectations and directly going against his orders. His plan to wed Amaeyra to Prince Ian may have worked, if the youngest sister, Isanae, had not delivered Hasten's journal directly into the arms of Elmudd after overhearing her older siblings plotting ...

When confronted by Elmudd, who demanded Hasten take Amaeyra to Tarmon himself, Hasten defied his father outright. Elmudd taunted Hasten, and finally, after twenty-two years of pressure, the Lion of Lireth snapped. He killed Elmudd in a moment of rage, with Amaeyra watching. In a moment of panic, the two of them made his death look natural and prayed no one would know the truth.

In the year since, Hasten has married, fathered a child, and became solidly seen as the Ruling Lord of House Lireth. To him, his life now seems empty and routine.

He is a murderer, kinslayer, and traitor, and no happier than he was before.