In the gilded palace of Aradellan, loyalty is currency, and secrets bleed.
Crown Prince Thorne Hallowmere knows this better than most—his court is a stage and his crown a trap. And after a failed assassination, his survival balanced on a knife’s edge.
Enter Nyric Nightbriar: war-hardened, stone-faced, and absolutely not impressed. Appointed as Thorne’s new personal guard, He is everything Thorne hates—strict, silent, immune to charm—and perhaps the only person in the palace more furious about the assignment than Thorne himself.
They are fire and storm.
A prince who uses decadence as armour, and a soldier who refuses to look away.
But as politics twist, old wounds fester, and danger circles ever closer, tension turns to friction, and friction threatens to become something else entirely. When protecting the crown means getting close—too close—what happens when neither man is willing to be the first to fall?
 
A dual-POV slow-burn fantasy romance featuring:
A sharp-tongued, secret-soft royal
A winged, emotionally stunted bodyguard with a kill count
Tactical pining, blistering arguments, and one shared door too many
Betrayals, ballroom diplomacy, and a mutual refusal to deal with their feelings like adults.
 
Some people fall in love.
These two fall into war first.