Mara Vale is still healing from the night the sheriff’s son left her bleeding on a floor when a new nightmare finds her. She has run, stolen enough cash to survive, and taken a dead-end night job while waiting for the man who hurt her to catch up. Then a stranger offers no rescue at all. Lucien is the Infernal King, and a bargain Mara never made has left a debt attached to her name. One touch drags her from the human world into Infernum, a realm of demons, fire, old laws, and a ruler everyone expects her to fear. Lucien is certain Mara belongs in his custody until the debt is settled. Mara is equally certain no man will own her again. Their battle of wills should make them enemies, but the longer she remains in his kingdom, the more the stories about Lucien stop matching the man she sees. He is feared as a monster, yet he gives her choices others tried to steal. She is supposed to be a temporary obligation, yet her defiance begins to matter to him more than the order he has maintained for centuries. Attraction grows in the worst possible place, complicated by Mara’s scars, Lucien’s brutal reputation, and enemies willing to exploit both. When violence from the human world and threats inside Infernum begin to converge, Mara discovers that escape is no longer the only thing she wants. Trusting Lucien could give her the first real safety she has known, or place her in the center of a war built on ancient grudges. Lucien has ruled by fear for centuries, but protecting Mara may require him to risk the one thing no Infernal King is supposed to surrender: control.
Mara Vale is still healing from the night the sheriff’s son left her bleeding on a floor when a new nightmare finds her. She has run, stolen enough cash to survive, and taken a dead-end night job while waiting for the man who hurt her to catch up. Then a stranger offers no rescue at all. Lucien i...