A bride auction. A Roc untouched for two hundred years. A nest he builds around her while she sleeps.
WREN When my uncle’s creditor raises a paddle to claim me, I do the only reckless, impossible thing that might save me. I choose the monster in the shadows instead.
Tavrin is nothing like the horror I braced for. He fills my room with books I’ve whispered about only once. He brings me tea before I know I want it.
He watches me like I’m a treasure he’s spent lifetimes searching for. But I can’t curl into safety. Not yet.
TAVRIN I bought her to free her. Now I’m the one undone. The mate bond snaps into place, and the change follows. Wings splitting skin, instincts narrowing to one command: claim, protect, keep.
But her past threatens the only family she has left. And to save them, I must choose between two impossible things: Let her walk away. Or risk tearing myself apart to bring her and her sister home.
