For three agonizing years, I rotted in a pitch-black underground cell, paying the price for a crime Rhett Sterling, a nobleman, committed. Before I was taken away, he held my hand with trembling fingers and vowed, through tears, to wait for me. He said we’d marry the moment I returned.
But when I finally walked out of that cell, bruised and broken, Rhett was nowhere to be found.

I went to the palace, hoping to find him. What I found instead was a dagger to the heart: Rhett, smiling cruelly, arm-in-arm with another woman. “You really think a tainted ex-con like you ...

For three agonizing years, I rotted in a pitch-black underground cell, paying the price for a crime Rhett Sterling, a nobleman, committed. Before I was taken away, he held my hand with trembling fingers and vowed, through tears, to wait for me. He said we’d marry the moment I returned.
But when I finally walked out of that cell, bruised and broken, Rhett was nowhere to be found.

I went to the palace, hoping to find him. What I found instead was a dagger to the heart: Rhett, smiling cruelly, arm-in-arm with another woman. “You really think a tainted ex-con like you deserves to be royalty?” he sneered.
That’s when the truth hit me—he had never intended to wait. I meant nothing.
Shattered, I surrendered to the marriage my family had arranged. On my wedding day, just as I tried to leave my past behind, Rhett barged in with his allies, sneering at me in front of the guests. “Is this your pathetic attempt to become my secret mistress, Mira? Wearing a royal bride’s dress to trap me into marriage? You’re a joke!”

Then the doors burst open.
Wyatt Sterling—the Alpha King of Duskhollow, Rhett’s powerful uncle—entered, eyes blazing. He wrapped a shawl over my bare shoulders, slid a ring onto my finger, and stood by my side.
And suddenly, for the first time… Rhett looked terrified.