I WAS A SERVANT UNTIL THE DRAGON OF NORDGARD CLAIMED ME. I hid in the shadows of the coastal stones, a nameless scullery maid with a secret heavy enough to sink a kingdom. Then the Iron Citadel came. Hayes Davenport is a mountain of a man, a primal force of nature who smells of salt and conquest. He found the silver signet ring hidden against my chest. He did not just take my village. He took me. On the deck of his dragon-headed ship, my old life died. He calls me his prize. He calls me his queen. His hands are massive and his commands are absolute. He did not wait for a ceremony to mark me as his own. He took what he wanted before we even reached the frozen north, silencing his rivals by branding me with his touch. Now I am a captive in a palace of ice and stone. I should hate the man who stole my future, yet I crave the heat of his possessive gaze. Men like Lucas Campbell whisper of betrayal and blood, wanting to steal the crown I never asked for. They do not understand that Hayes Davenport does not share. He has dressed me in furs and silks, grooming me to stand at his side while he crushes anyone who dares to look at me. I am no longer the girl who hid in the dark; I am the property of a king who will ruin the world to keep me in his bed.