When duty demands her hand in marriage to a man twice her age and half as human, Lady Lyra of House Vorne does what no noblewoman should—she runs. Fleeing into the forbidden Arboretum, she stumbles upon a creature from the realm of myth: Kaelen, the Shadow of the North, a being born of darkness and old magic. Their meeting should have ended in her death. Instead, it awakens something older and far more dangerous—a bond of power neither understands. The air itself bends, the earth trembles, and the vines come alive at their touch. Kaelen names her in a forgotten tongue: T’Kaelen—Mine. Moments later, the Bastion Bell rings. The keep falls under siege. Her father is murdered. Her world burns. Two months later, Lyra returns to find her home ruled by her drunken brother, who would trade her freedom to their father’s killer in a desperate bid for peace. But Lyra carries a secret: the same wild power that answered the Shadow’s call now hums beneath her skin—and it’s growing. When Kaelen walks through the castle gates, untouched by steel and shadow alike, demanding her presence, Lyra must decide whether he is her captor or her salvation. For the creatures who slaughtered her father are hunting again—and the light inside her is what they seek. Bound by an ancient claim, torn between vengeance and desire, Lyra and Kaelen must face a war that could shatter both the world of men and the realm of shadows. In a land where love is a weapon and blood remembers old pacts, only one truth remains: He is darkness incarnate. She is the spark that could consume him. Together, they could end the war—or start the next apocalypse.