Alina Starkov expected to wake up on a ship sailing across the True Sea, one that would take her far from Ravka, far from the Darkling and his mad crusade. Instead, she awoke in Os Alta to a devastating truth: the war was won nearly a century ago, her first love was dead, and she remembered nothing. Not even that, as part of her surrender, she agreed to a political marriage.

At the end of Ruin & Rising, Alina agrees to cooperate with the Darkling in order to keep her friends alive. A year has since passed. Slowly, she comes to realize her true potential, and slowly, she starts to understand him. What would happen if she were to take the throne by his side? (SMUT)