A Royal Trap
He drew a shuddering breath, and when he turned to face her, his composure was a mask hastily reassembled, but his eyes still blazed with inner turmoil. “Isn’t this wonderful, my darling?” he asked, his voice a bitter parody of his usual tone. “My arrogance, my selfishness—believing I could be your protector, when my very nature is the greatest danger to you.” The hatred in his voice turned inward, a lash against his own soul. “Selfishly, I taint you. You, who are so pure. So wondrous.”
He took a step back, as if the space could shield her. “Look at me. This is the monster I never wanted you to see. You fear it. It disgusts you.”
“No.” The word was firm, a rock against his tide of self-loathing. She shook her head vigorously, and then, with careful, deliberate steps, she began to close the distance he had created. “I love you,” she said, each syllable weighted with certainty. “I love you with all my being.”
She was before him now. Her hands, soft and warm, rose to cradle his face, forcing his tormented gaze to meet her unwavering one. “Show me the worst part of you,” she whispered, her thumb stroking his cheek. “Tell me every terrible thing you have ever done, and let me love you regardless. My heart is yours. My weak, human heart.”
For Elowyn Malling, a quiet, bookish village girl, the ball is an absurd distraction from her chores and her beloved novels. But when her ambitious sisters drag her to the palace, a moment of curiosity in a moonlit garden leads to a fatal mistake.
Now, caught in a web of terrifying luxury and dark obsession, Elowyn must navigate a game she doesn’t understand.