In a kingdom where a forgotten goddess's curse has become law—where purity is power and desire is a death sentence—Raylane has lived her life playing the perfect girl. Obedient. Untouched. Destined for the crown.

All so she might one day reshape a realm that damns cursed women like her mother . . . women who dared to fall in love. Until one kiss ruins everything.

Branded impure and cursed with rot-magic that spreads by touch, Raylane is cast into the Trial of the Bound—a brutal arena where champions fight to the death, gods revel in blood, and power feeds on the prayers of the crowd. Her only hope of survival? Swear fealty to the very goddess who cursed her. In return, the goddess tears a shadowbeast from another world and binds him to Raylane's side—feral, unwilling, and the only one who can help her tame the power threatening to consume her.

He doesn't want her. Doesn't trust her. But their fates are entwined, and every step toward mastery binds them tighter.

As her power grows and their bond deepens, Raylane must make an impossible choice: win the trial, free the cursed, and unleash a forgotten goddess bent on reclaiming the world . . . or lose everything to save those who now pray for her death.

One path leads to love. The other, to mercy. Both end in ruin.



Contains mature themes.