Oaths of Ash and Lace

"To the Kingdom of Aethelgard, she is a saint in silk. To the man who once broke her heart, she is a lie wrapped in lace."

Princess Elara Vane is a masterpiece of deception. To her people, she is the "Gilded Dove"-the wise, kind, and radiant heir who refuses every suitor to focus solely on the prosperity of her realm. They see her smile; they don't see the bone-deep exhaustion or the mysterious pain she hides behind a mask of royal perfection. She has a kingdom to save, a goal to reach, and no room for the vulnerability of love.

But the past has a way of rising from the shadows.

When a silent, formidable knight in blackened steel-Sir Kaelen Thorne-returns from five years of exile to claim his place as her sworn protector, Elara's carefully constructed world begins to fracture. Kaelen was her childhood shadow, her first love, and the man who allegedly betrayed the crown.

As a web of courtly intrigue spun by her ambitious cousin begins to tighten around her, Elara must navigate a second chance she never asked for. Between stolen moments by the Whispering Creek and the blood-soaked reality of a looming war, secrets are unearthed that rewrite everything Elara thought she knew about her family, her magic, and the red thread of fate that binds her to the man she was supposed to hate.

In a world where oaths are written in ash, can a heart bound by lace ever truly be free?