Princess Mina Ardeshir agrees to marry ruthless Emperor Darius Gilchrist because his army is the only force fierce enough to behead the false king who took her mother's throne and to save Kalisham.
Darius has no belief in love and wanted a docile queen, not a fierce, outspoken princess who interrupts his ball with an offer too useful to refuse and then declines to obey him.
He accepts the match so Kalisham will join his empire, prepared to stay on guard through a lifetime of uneasy nights that he secretly hopes may prove less lethal than they first appear.
Mina recognizes a calculating warrior whose blade work rivals her own, though what unsettles her most is how quickly he gets under her skin.
War is gathering, assassins are already on her trail, and unless these two stubborn allies learn to trust each other, their dangerous attraction may cost them both the homes they are fighting to keep.
