Blackridge Fortress doesn't choose brides.
It takes them.
Vesper arrives at the mountain stronghold as a political offering—another woman sent to satisfy an ancient curse and keep the kingdom safe. But the moment she crosses the threshold, the fortress recognizes her. Whispers seep from the stone. Doors lock behind her. And a cold, hungry power coils beneath her ribs… waiting to be unleashed.
The Moon Crown is more than a legend. It's a living hunger—one that feeds on devotion, blood, and vows… and it wants Vesper to kneel.
Only one man stands between her and the crown's claim: Draven, Blackridge's brutal, haunted ruler—feared as a monster, forged as the fortress's "key," and bound to the curse in ways he can't escape. He doesn't want Vesper. He doesn't want her power. He wants her gone before the mountain swallows her whole.
But Vesper isn't like the brides before her.
She doesn't beg.
She doesn't break.
And when the crown tries to use love as leverage, she makes a vow of her own—one sharp enough to turn hunger back on itself.
As passion ignites in the dark halls of Blackridge, Vesper must choose what kind of queen she'll become… because the crown doesn't just want her body.
It wants her mouth.
Her will.
Her soul.
And if she opens—even once—she may become the very monster the fortress has been waiting for.