Prince Kael was only ten when he watched his kingdom burn. When Emperor Theron's armies destroyed everything he loved and put chains on his wrists. Twenty years later, Kael is no longer that crying boy. He is the Shadow General, the Empire's most feared warrior, forced to win battles for the man who destroyed his life. But Kael has been planning. Waiting. And now Emperor Theron is dead. The old monster left behind a daughter, Princess Lyra. Sweet, gentle Lyra who speaks to servants like equals. Who sneaks food to hungry children in the streets. Who has no idea her beloved father was a butcher of kingdoms. She is nothing like Emperor Theron. But she has his blood. His eyes. His name. And Kael owns her now. He won her in the power struggle after Theron's death. Won her like a prize. The Imperial Council had to agree - give him the princess, or watch the Empire's greatest general turn his armies against them. Now she kneels at his feet, trembling, waiting to learn what the slave-turned-conqueror will do to the daughter of his enemy. He should hate her. He does hate her. Hates how she flinches when he comes near. Hates the tears in those familiar eyes. Hates how soft her voice is when she whispers "please." But most of all, he hates how she makes him feel things he buried long ago. Things a weapon like him shouldn't feel. Things that make his carefully built walls crack and crumble. She is his to break. To use. To destroy piece by piece, just like her father destroyed him. So why does hurting her feel like cutting out pieces of his own soul? And why does she look at him - not with fear or disgust - but with something dangerous. Something that looks like understanding. Like she sees past the monster to the broken boy underneath. He will make her pay for her father's sins. Every single one. Unless she saves him first. Unless they save each other. Or unless the ghosts of their past destroy them both.