Affection: True Love

"Beneath her feet, I swear my oath. Upon her ashes, I shall claim my throne." Thirteen years is an eternity to nurse a grudge. For Alaric Vane, the world is nothing more than a collection of frayed rags stitched together by the crushing poverty of the Gray Cradle orphanage. Ever since his parents vanished without a trace, Alaric has lived by a single law: protect the family that remains, or be consumed alongside them. But when the Kingdom of Oakhaven decrees that the Gray Cradle be razed to the ground, Alaric does the unthinkable. He crawls before the City Governor—a woman of lethal beauty, with hair as red as fresh blood and piercing yellow eyes. To save his foster siblings, Alaric signs a soul-crushing contract of enslavement. He becomes a shadow beneath her feet—a human "footstool" stripped of every shred of dignity. Yet, the sacrifice was a lie. Within the gilded walls of the governor’s estate, Alaric uncovers the bitter truth: the orphanage was leveled long ago. Every humiliation he endured for a year was merely a game—a grand deception by a woman who wanted a new toy to break. Alaric’s rage is a dormant volcano, but he knows he is not yet strong enough to erupt. Within the remaining years of his contract, he begins to weave a web of his own. Under the guidance of a secret ally and a surge of magic born from utter despair, his once-fragile frame transforms into a terrifying threat. Now, the Governor begins to see Alaric through a different lens. The sadistic satisfaction of belittling him has soured into a torturous obsession. She has fallen for the man she enslaved, unaware that behind Alaric’s mask of obedience lurks a predator counting down the days. A four-year contract. A single vow of vengeance. Alaric doesn't want her love. He only wants to watch Oakhaven burn, just as she burned his world to the ground.