She was sent to map his kingdom for conquest. She never planned on falling for the king she was trained to betray.
Nyla has one job: survey the Ashen Crown's border, feed the intelligence home, and never once let the "monster king" everyone warns her about see her coming. She's good at it - three years good. Then a market stall, a stranger's hand, and a mark burning into her wrist undo three years of training in one heartbeat.
King Vorgath has spent a decade letting his enemies believe the worst about him, because a monster is harder to invade than a king one bad season from losing everything. He knows exactly what Nyla is the moment he catches her. He claims her anyway.
As the empire that trained her marches on the kingdom she's started to love, Nyla has to choose between the only home she's ever known and the one she's just found - and Vorgath has to decide how much of his carefully built reputation he's willing to burn to keep her.
Tropes:
Fated matesEnemies to loversHunted / chase dynamicPossessive heroMorally gray royalHEA guaranteedBook 7 of the Ashveil Realm - standalone HEA, no cliffhanger.