Kaela has spent years building a quiet life at the far edge of Aravelle, as far from the northern court and the secrets of her blood as she can get. Then a letter from the sister she has not seen in nearly fifteen years pulls her back toward everything she swore never to face again. The journey becomes even more dangerous when Ronan Thornbane, a feared Hunter commander with storm-dark eyes and too many questions, is ordered to keep Kaela close. She expects a jailer. Instead, forced proximity turns suspicion into banter, banter into dangerous attraction, and attraction into a trust neither of them can afford. Kaela has hidden more than her name. Ice answers her emotions, an impossible familiar chooses her, and the power she buried begins waking at the exact moment the empire starts to fracture. Ronan carries his own secrets, along with loyalties that could put them on opposite sides of a coming war. As royal schemes tighten around them and ancient magic returns to the battlefield, Kaela must decide whether survival still means running or finally claiming the strength she was taught to fear. Ronan may be the one man capable of standing beside her when the crown turns lethal, but loving him gives her enemies a weakness they can use. In a realm where fire and ice are becoming weapons of conquest, Kaela's most dangerous choice may be trusting the man who was supposed to deliver her back to the past.
Kaela has spent years building a quiet life at the far edge of Aravelle, as far from the northern court and the secrets of her blood as she can get. Then a letter from the sister she has not seen in nearly fifteen years pulls her back toward everything she swore never to face again. The journey b...