Beneath the ivory veil

Atlas Doukas is an angel trapped in a nightmare. With hair as pale as winter frost, skin so delicate it glows in the dimmest light, and eyes like frozen lakes, he is hauntingly beautiful-something otherworldly, something that does not belong in the hands of men like Dante Bianchi. But life has never been kind to Atlas. Torn from innocence and reshaped by cruelty, he has learned that silence is his safest weapon, that beauty is both a curse and a trap.

When he is forced into marriage with Dante-a man whose name alone commands fear, whose touch is foreign to gentleness-Atlas knows his fate has been sealed. Dante is no savior, no knight draped in white. He is the darkness that stalks in the night, a man built from the ashes of violence, sculpted by war. His mismatched eyes hold storms, his scarred skin tells stories of pain, and his presence alone is enough to send men to their knees. But Atlas does not kneel.

From the moment they meet, their world shifts. Dante does not want to be drawn to Atlas, does not want to notice the quiet defiance in his gaze or the way his breath catches when their skin brushes. But he does. And Atlas-though he fears Dante, though the very idea of intimacy sends chills through his bones-cannot stop the way his heart races when Dante looks at him too long.