The Beast Prince and the Girl He Kissed

Marianne Alder was supposed to be the bride. Until her sister Clarissa stole everything-her fiance, her ring, her future-with a smirk and a lie.
"You didn't even want him," Marianne whispered.
"Oh, sweet sister," Clarissa had laughed. "I wanted to watch you break. Mission accomplished."
Publicly humiliated, locked in an attic, and stripped of her name, Marianne enters the royal Choice-not for glory, but for escape. Yet Clarissa enters too, more determined than ever to crush her sister one final time.
"You're a maid, Marianne," she hissed. "A mistake the palace hasn't noticed yet."
And yet, it's Marianne who catches the attention of a stranger in the moonlit garden. And when he kisses her... She shoves him, furious. He just smiles.
"You bit back. That's rare."
And when Prince Alexander Solmar enters the hall the next morning?
"Oh no. Oh hell."
It was him.
Now, Marianne must survive the Choice, outwit her sister, and face a crown-shadowed prince who kisses like a secret and sees straight through her.