"You're shaking," he murmured, his palm cupping her heat with a heavy, possessive weight that made her knees give way. He didn't just touch her; he staked a claim, his fingers slicking through her folds with a slow, agonizing deliberation that demanded her absolute focus. "You're suffocating me," she panted, her hands clutching his shoulders as the relentless friction turned her blood to liquid fire. "I am keeping you where you belong," he growled, his teeth sinking into the curve of her shoulder as he drove two fingers deep inside her, his thumb grinding against her center until she was nothing but a pulse against his hand. She was sent as a political bride, a living apology, a pawn meant to wither beneath the weight of an unforgiving empire. He was a ruler forged by betrayal, untouched by warmth, and sworn never to need a woman by his side. Their marriage was meant to be a sentence-hers to endure, his to ignore. But when a woman expected to break instead reaches the heart of an emperor, the empire itself begins to crack. In a world of crowns, bloodlines, and ruthless power, this is the story of a bride who was never meant to live... and the emperor who was never meant to love.

Betrayed by her family and betrothed to a prince, Arlen runs for her life-only to be found by the domineering Duke Liam Crawford, the man she should fear most. Cold, commanding, wealthy and irresistibly magnetic, he saves her with a single touch and claims her as his own. Every whispered command, every lingering caress, draws her deeper into a treacherous game with a man who sees her not as a wife, but as a prize to possess. In his arms, danger tastes like desire... but will she surrender or survive? *** Weekly updates on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. *** ⓒ Serenascent / TENBOOK / FLORIEL