Donaldina MacNicol is burying her brother when her clan begins to fracture and rivals press in to strip her of power.
An enemy laird, Roy MacIver, arrives with an eight-year-old royal decree and claims her hand before another man can seize her fate.
He came for a political bride, not a woman whose fire makes duty feel like sin.
Her defiance wears down his restraint, and every forbidden touch makes distance feel like punishment.
A marriage between them could end the bloodshed, or set the Highlands alight.
