Sheena Boekweg

The teenage daughter of an executioner and the traitorous prince she can't kill must reluctantly join forces to dethrone a paranoid queen after discovering they are trapped in a video game where "Game Over" equals death in this fast-paced YA debut.Ryo is the golden boy, the playboy prince, until his uncle betrays him and everything falls apart. Minor nobles Dagney and Grigfen are suddenly forced to fight for their lives after their father is branded a traitor. McKenna, queen of the enemy realm, has been given a mission of conquest, though she isn't sure she's fit for the task.But things are not always what they seem ... all of these teens are actually players in the newest, most immersive virtual reality game, competing against each other for a highly coveted internship.Now this golden opportunity has suddenly become a deadly trap. There's a glitch in the software, and it has trapped the players inside a world that is slowly falling apart. If they die in the game, they die for real--and the only way out is to win.

"Do you want me to be dangerous?" he asked, his voice husky and low.I gulped, and for a moment I was incapable of speech. But he was quiet, waiting. "No. I don't.""Then I'm not dangerous at all," he murmured. His gaze moved from my eyes to my mouth. "You've never been safer than you are at this moment." I shivered as his breath tickled my skin. Our lips were mere millimeters apart when the sky shattered in a kaleidoscope of colored light.We didn't know how much we had to lose until we were infected with magic. Sam was in love, Juliette was the main caretaker for her siblings, and Ana and her dad planned the best parties in New York. But we lost it all when we were shipped to Chebeague, an exclusive school for newly infected mages.Everyone knows about the mages, those who survive the infection and end up with magical abilities. We've seen the power of magic, the high-paying jobs, and the world fame. But we never saw the cost. We didn't know we'd be forced to give up everything: sanity, family, even the right to talk on the phone.We didn't know mage was just another word for prisoner.