ADONIA

One Daughter guarantees a century of power. One forced marriage can save an empire. But no king ever asked what would happen when the sacrifice discovered the power belonged to her.

Princess Adonia has never behaved like a proper royal daughter. She races village boys, fishes beside commoners, hunts with a spear, and refuses to become the quiet, obedient bride her kingdom expects.

When unrest begins threatening her father's throne, Adonia is offered an irresistible escape-a journey across the sea to the magnificent kingdom of Argenté.

She believes she is being sent to explore the world.

Everyone else knows she is being delivered.

For two hundred years, Argenté has survived through an ancient covenant. Every century, its royal family must marry a Daughter of the Soil from the sacred bloodlines of Akahbulan. Her power strengthens the crown, enriches the kingdom, and prevents the empire from collapsing.

This time, the chosen Daughter is Adonia.

Before she can understand the betrayal, she is married to Étienne de Valois-the king's dangerously handsome, arrogant son, who never wanted a wife and believes her people are beneath his own.

Adonia refuses to become his possession.

But inside Argenté's glittering palace, enemies hide behind jeweled masks. Étienne's longtime mistress wants him back. Rival princes want Adonia's bloodline. Priests fear her power. Foreign kingdoms would kill to control her.

And Bastien-Étienne's closest friend-may be the only man at court who truly sees her.

As forced marriage becomes forbidden desire and court rivalry turns deadly, Adonia must decide whether to save the empire that has accepted the sacrifice of her-or let it fall.

Because the Soil does not answer to kings.

It answers to her.