Elara has spent years learning how to escape. Imprisoned by High Regent Corvin because she heard a conspiracy that could threaten the queen, she knows her usefulness is almost over and her death is being arranged to look accidental. Poison has already reached her food. Time is running out. Then the guards throw a brutalized stranger into the dungeon, and Elara sees the one opportunity she may never get again. Darian is wounded, dangerous, and carrying a reputation that makes trusting him almost as reckless as staying behind. But he needs freedom as badly as she does. Their escape begins as necessity, a fragile partnership built on stolen moments, half-truths, and the constant fear of capture. Outside the fortress, survival becomes more complicated. Borders are closing, loyalties are shifting, and Corvin's grip on the kingdom reaches farther than Elara imagined. Darian has enemies of his own, along with secrets he is not eager to share. Elara has hidden parts of her identity because revealing them could change how everyone sees her, including the man beginning to matter far too much. As danger forces them closer, attraction turns their alliance into something neither planned. Darian respects the sharp mind others tried to silence. Elara sees the man beneath the scars and the stories told about him. But escaping the dungeon was only the first step. To reclaim their lives, they may have to confront the power that put them in chains and choose sides in a struggle that could reshape the crown itself. Freedom is within reach, but only if trust survives the truths waiting beyond the prison walls.
Elara has spent years learning how to escape. Imprisoned by High Regent Corvin because she heard a conspiracy that could threaten the queen, she knows her usefulness is almost over and her death is being arranged to look accidental. Poison has already reached her food. Time is running out. Then t...