Shadow and Son (Shattered Crown)

He is everything she was trained to destroy—and the only man who can save her kingdom.

When assassin Mira Ashveil is captured mid-mission by the very prince she was sent to kill, she expects chains and a quick execution. What she gets instead is a deal she cannot refuse: help him reclaim a shattered throne, or watch her people burn. Prince Caelen has his own reasons for keeping her alive, and none of them are merciful.

They despise each other with a precision that borders on intimate. Every barbed exchange, every moment their hands are forced together by necessity, chips away at the careful hatred they've built like armor. He knows she's calculating. She knows he's hiding something darker than any secret she carries. They're both right.

But kingdoms don't wait for enemies to make peace, and the force hunting them doesn't care about grudges. As the shadows closing in grow larger than either of them can fight alone, Mira begins to understand that the most dangerous thing about Caelen isn't his power or his crown—it's the way he looks at her like she's worth something.

She came to end him. Now she's not sure she can survive him.

*Shadow and Son* is a slow-burn fantasy romance about the fine, devastating line between hate and hunger—and what happens when crossing it costs everything.