Princess Kasey of Vandarin has spent her entire life caged by royal expectations and the strict, silent laws of her father's court. She is the ultimate political pawn, bartered away to Prince Malakor of Rankor to secure a fragile truce and end a brutal, decades-long war. Her betrothed is a gentle prince hiding a scandalous past, but his father-the terrifying, purist Tyrant King Alakor-is a monster who rules with an iron fist, obsessed with human supremacy and desperate to shackle Kasey's kingdom to his archaic rule. But the royal feast meant to celebrate the union shatters the illusion of peace. In a single, chaotic night, Kasey's mother exposes a dangerous secret that rocks the continent: the magical creatures of her childhood fairy tales are real. For centuries, elves, dwarves, and other forbidden factions have been violently segregated, driven into the dirt by human tyrants. Now, Vandarin is on the brink of an ideological civil war, and the dormant Dwarves of the Western Mountains have awoken, threatening a massive siege to stop the royal wedding from sealing their doom. Amidst the political vipers stands Garrett, the lethal "Silver Wolf of the Southern Mire." Clad in dark iron armor and commanding a legion of silent ravens, he is Kasey's newly appointed household shield. To the court, he is a rabid beast of war. To Kasey, he is the boy from her past who survived hell just to stand guard over her life-and the only man who knows the raw, fiercely possessive truth of who she really belongs to. With a three-month delay bought by political manipulation and a looming three-way war on the horizon, the countdown to Alakor's execution has officially begun. Kasey must play the part of the submissive, perfect bride by day, while she and Garrett work in the dark to dismantle an empire piece by bloody piece. In a world of wolves, softness is just another word for prey. And the ravens are hungry