Prince Corven Raithe was not raised to be a prince. He was raised to become revenge. For twenty-six years, he lived with the memory of a murdered father, a stolen throne, and a kingdom that had forgotten his family. When he finally returned with an army and the power to command the seas, he took back his throne, captured King Valerius Vaelora, and ruled the kingdom with the same ruthless fury that had kept him alive all those years. Corven is cold, ruthless, and frighteningly controlled. He rarely shows emotion, and mercy has never been one of his virtues. He trusts almost no one, hates almost everyone, and has little patience for weakness or disobedience. Except when it comes to his wife. A year into their forced marriage, Vespera has become the one person Corven cannot bring himself to hate. She is powerful, intelligent, sharp-tongued, and completely unwilling to submit to him. She challenges his decisions, helps him rule the kingdom, and speaks to him as an equal even when everyone else lowers their heads. Corven should resent her. Instead, he has grown accustomed to her presence. He notices when she leaves a room. His eyes find her during royal gatherings without his permission. He listens when she speaks, even when he pretends not to. And beneath all his restraint lies something darker: an intense, possessive need to have her closer. Yet Vespera has never allowed him to touch her. For an entire year, they have maintained a precise distance. He can stand beside her, speak to her, sit beside her at royal gatherings, even call her his wife, but the moment his hand reaches for her, she draws the line. It infuriates him. Not because he believes she owes him affection, but because he wants her in a way he has never wanted anyone. He wants to touch her. To feel her beneath his hands. To know that the woman bound to him by blood is truly within his reach. And every time she refuses, that desire becomes harder to control. Corven is possessive by nature, and with Vespera, that instinct grows sharper. He hates other people staring at her. Hates when someone stands too close. Hates the idea that anyone else might think they have a right to her attention. He knows she is not something he owns. He simply struggles with the fact that his heart seems determined to disagree. His love for Vespera is not gentle or healthy. It is dark, obsessive, and tangled with the violence that has always lived inside him. The beast in Corven never disappears. But for her, he learns to keep it on a leash. But slowly, Corven begins to understand that his love for Vespera does not have to exist beneath his anger. He learns that loving her does not make him weaker. It gives him something his hatred never could: a reason to choose what kind of man he wants to become.