dearylyn
❛The greatest passion is often the one we are told to deny.❜ ─ Leo Tolstoy
Aleksei Kirov rules with an iron will and a heart of ice. As the feared leader of the Zverin Empire, his name alone commands loyalty-or death. His world is one of absolute control: empires built on blood, silence, and fear. No mistakes. No weakness. No attachments.
An unexpected guardianship is thrust upon him-a child no one knew existed, too quiet, too delicate, too innocent, and out of place in Aleksei's brutal world. He should have been a liability. A problem to be solved quietly. Instead, the boy becomes something far more dangerous: a crack in Aleksei's armor.
As enemies stir and the foundations of his empire begin to shift, Aleksei faces a threat unlike any he's known-not from the outside, but from within.
Because in a world where power is survival, even the smallest crack can bring an empire crashing down.
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2025 LYN. Original Work