I swore my heart would stay locked behind walls no king could breach.
Not after the betrayals that left me scarred and spitting defiance at every suitor's gaze.
But then they bound me to him - the fallen prince, his scandals a shadow that clings like smoke, his loyalty a chain I shouldn't want to snap.
Duty demanded I wed this tarnished royal in candlelit alcoves where whispers turn to daggers.
I told myself I'd endure it cold, untouched, my bitten lip the only sign of the war raging inside.

He watches me like I'm the one thing that could redeem or ruin him.
Those eyes, heavy with secrets that could topple thrones, pull me into a hunger I deny with every breath.
One stolen touch in the hearth's glow, and my resolve cracks - his hand at my waist, raw vulnerability spilling out as we collapse against stone walls that echo our gasps.
I crave the reckless heat of him, skin against skin in forbidden collapse, where arranged vows twist into obsessive need.
Yet every caress battles the court's lethal eyes, his past a blade hovering over us both.

He's torn, withdrawing into oaths that choke him, but clumsy with the intensity that undoes me.
Whispered vigils by my bedside shatter my denial, his breath a promise of passion that devours restraint.
What if this union, meant to be ice, forges something unbreakable - or burns my fragile trust to ash?
Surrender to him means risking everything: my safety in webs of intrigue, my self carved from betrayals.
Can the prince who haunts my nights save the woman who fears she'll beg for her own downfall?