9 promises...6 fates...3 great empires and 1 big romantic mess

He demanded the perfect princess. The empire gave him the wrong daughter. Aveline Valcairn has always been the emperor's forgotten daughter, the princess who grew up among books, greenhouses, and hidden corridors where no one thought to measure the true extent of her intelligence. Until her sister disappears on the eve of a marriage that could determine the future of the empire. In place of the perfect bride, Aveline is given to Ronan Blackthorne, the feared Iron Duke: commander of the North, war hero, and leading contender for the throne. He expected a princess trained to rule. Instead, he receives a sharp-tongued substitute with dangerous knowledge and no intention of obeying him in silence. Taken to Ironmist Fortress, surrounded by snow, steam-powered machines, and political enemies, they must turn an unwanted engagement into a convincing alliance. But as Aveline searches for the real reason her sister fled, she discovers that powerful men within the empire are willing to kill for control of the succession. Ronan does not trust the woman they gave him. Aveline refuses to become any man's property. Yet between contracts, conspiracies, dangerous provocations, and an attraction neither of them was prepared to feel, the substitute bride may prove to be the only woman capable of ruling beside the Iron Duke. A steampunk fantasy romance featuring an arranged marriage, enemies to lovers, slow burn, palace intrigue, an intelligent heroine, a possessive duke, and a deadly battle for the imperial throne.