He threw her in an ice cell. She bled in secret to save his life. Now, he kneels in her mud, begging for a second chance.
Swapped at dawn by her ruthless family, Elara is delivered to Ironwinter Fortress in a wedding gown that doesn't fit. Her bridegroom is Kaelen Dawnfang?the ruthless, violently cursed King of the Northern Reaches. Expecting a legendary Healer, Kaelen sees only an imposter with a dark purple curse mark on her face.
Suspicious and dying from a venomous affliction, Kaelen rejects her as a fraud, throwing her into the sub-zero water cells and ordering her to serve his court as a low-born thrall.
But Elara carries a secret older than his crown: she is the final living vessel of the ancient World Tree.
Night after night, while Kaelen treats her as a nuisance, Elara secretly infuses her own heart's blood into his morning medicine, systematically curing his terminal curse. When Kaelen formally severs their Mate Bond in front of his court, Elara stages a catastrophic garrison fire, leaving behind a scorched bone necklace, and disappears into the night.
Three years later, Kaelen is cured, sane, and consumed by a madness born of devastating guilt. Having slaughtered the family that betrayed her, he leads three hundred soldiers into the forbidden Mist Forest, searching for a legendary Queen to cure a plague ravaging his people.
He expects a myth. Instead, he finds Elara.
No longer a silent girl in rags, Elara stands as a radiant, gold-marked War Queen, commanding ancient beasts and living roots. When the invincible Lycan King falls to his knees in the cold mud, clutching her hem and sobbing for forgiveness, Elara looks down with amber eyes cold as winter.
"Your mate died in a fire three years ago, Kaelen. Call me Queen."
TROPE LIST & WHAT TO EXPECT:
Arranged Marriage & Swapped Bride
Grievous Rejection & Secret Sacrifice
Fake Death & Epic Identity Reversal
Fireplace-Tier Groveling Alpha King
Divine War Queen & Unyielding HEA
The Lycan King's Poisoned Mate is Book One in the Chronicles of the Cursed Sovereigns series. It is a full-length Dark Romantic Fantasy novel featuring heavy angst, intense physical tension, and a fierce, uncompromising heroine. Intended for mature audiences (18+).
