MY ROYAL BLOOD IS THE ONLY CURRENCY THEY ACCEPT. I arrived at StoneHearth to save my family from the gutter. My father bartered my hand to a merchant to pay his gambling debts. I expected a life of quiet duty and cold contracts. Instead, I found a gilded cage and two predators waiting in the shadows. Prince Gunner Lynn and his cousin Ryder do not recognize common contracts. They have declared my marriage void and claimed me as their sovereign right. To them, I am not a woman of noble birth. I am a royal tithe to be collected. They have locked me in the North Wing and stripped away my world. I am a princess by birth and a prisoner by royal mandate. Every day, they tighten my laces until I am breathless and trembling. They watch me with predatory eyes, waiting for my dignity to crumble under the weight of their obsession. The social circles of the court whisper about my fall from grace. Chloe Villiers pours tea and venom, ensuring I have no allies left within these stone walls. I am alone with two men who view my innocence as a prize to be dismantled. My betrothed stands at the gates, but he is a ghost to me now. Gunner has already claimed my soul and the flesh that houses it. He does not want a wife to cherish. He wants a subject to rule. I am a ruined woman bound to a throne of silk and shadow.