Wings of Bondage

The Ground knows her only as the Crimson Butterfly.
A shadow in motion. A whisper of wings. An assassin whose presence means death has already been decided.

Lendale Hano was not born to the Ground. She was cast into it. Sold to preserve a noble family's name, she was claimed by the Raiders' leader and raised into a living weapon. Every order she follows tightens the chain. Every life she takes secures the system that owns her. Leaving is a thought she buries deep because escape would cost more than her own blood.

Then she is sent to kill an enemy who doesn't recoil when the butterflies appear.

He meets her blades with laughter, desire, and recognition. Like he's been waiting for her. In the chaos of battle, he sees what no one else ever has: not the myth, not the monster, but the woman trapped inside the wings. To him, she is everything he never knew he was searching for.

As violence escalates and control begins to crack, Lendale is forced to confront the truth she's avoided her entire life: freedom isn't taken. It's chosen. And choosing it means turning her blade on the world that raised her.

The Crimson Butterfly was made to kill.
She was never meant to want.
And she was never meant to fall in love with the man she was ordered to destroy.