"You're playing with fire Safania." "Good thing I don't burn." The last words he spoke before throwing me onto my bed sounded like a threat, but felt more like a promise. "You will." *** Don't get caught. Those are the three words Safania has lived by for the past five years. As a marked woman - easily identified by intricate bronze marks on her back and unpredictable special abilities - she has spent the past five years running from anyone who might exploit those abilities...especially the royal families who tortured marked women to build their empires. Starving, exhausted, and frozen, she collapses by the bank of a river just to wake up in her worst nightmare: the chambers of a prince. Prince Cassius is his father's first choice of his three brothers to ascend to the throne. He's smart, strategic, and stoic, unlike his corrupt and depraved brothers. There's just one problem: he has no interest in any of his proposed marital matches, and the King will only pick someone as his successor who he knows will carry on the family line. But once he meets Safania, he finds himself unable to imagine ruling the kingdom without her by his side. Can he convince her to trust him? *** Warning: this story contains mature and potentially triggering themes including domestic violence and sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.