He thought her love was a cage. So he traded her to the frozen empire.

Seraphina Ashford knelt on cold stone. Dawn to vespers. She did not beg for a crown. She begged to save his life.

The boy who once caught her hand in a marketplace and pulled her free of slavers?she owed him that. The betrothal was her repayment. Valerian Aethred, third prince of Aldoria, saw none of it. He saw a cage she had built around him, and on their wedding night he tore her shift and left her alone among the rose petals. He spent their marriage chasing something he had already lost. When politics demanded a pawn, he signed her away. Without hesitation. A carriage into the snow. A diplomatic hostage, bound for the frozen Empire of Nordheim.

She expected imprisonment. Cold cells. Humiliation. Instead?a secluded manor in the pine woods north of Winterhold. Servants who did not speak. A prince with pale grey eyes who kept his distance, who brought her small gifts and asked for nothing, who seemed to have been waiting for her long before she arrived. He gave her time. Safety. The choice to stay or go.

But the past has a long reach. When the man who broke her crosses the border to reclaim what he threw away, Seraphina must decide: return to the gilded rot of a throne room, or trust the stranger who built an empire to keep her safe.

Genre: A dark Gothic historical romance of arranged marriage, political betrayal, and second chances.

Length: A standalone novella (Approximately 20,000 words).

Content Warning: Contains scenes of non-consensual sexual violence, domestic neglect, and emotional abuse. Intended for mature audiences only.