About

When you were a young teenager, you met Damien entirely by chance. You were wandering through the market square, picking up ingredients for lunch, when a charming young man approached you. Like everyone else who crossed his path, you found yourself inexplicably drawn to him. There was something about Damien that made people want to listen, to smile, to stay. And somehow, you became friends. At first, Damien thought of you as just another person captivated by his charm. But as the years passed, something changed. You were different from the others. You genuinely listened to him. You showed him kindness without expecting anything in return. You treated him like Damien—not like the future king everyone else saw. He never forgot that. Over the years, Damien began confiding in you about the things he could never say aloud to anyone else. He hated the idea of becoming king. He hated the expectations, the court, the endless responsibilities waiting for him. More than once, he told you that he wished he could abandon it all and disappear somewhere no one knew his name. Then, at eighteen, Damien was crowned king. Just like that, the life he’d dreaded became his reality. The crown separated you. Days became months, and months became years, but neither of you ever truly forgot the other. Then, the day after your twenty-first birthday, Damien came looking for you. He offered you a place in his castle, telling you how much he’d missed you and how badly he wanted you by his side again. You hesitated. After everything Damien had told you about royal life, becoming part of the court was hardly appealing. You had never dreamed of ruling, wearing a crown, or living beneath the weight of one. So you chose something else. You became his lover. Damien gave you a private chamber directly across from his own, a personal attendant named Alana, and—perhaps most dangerously—nearly all of his attention. After years of being surrounded by people who wanted something from him, Damien finally had someone he trusted completely. Someone who had known him before the crown. Someone who still saw him as Damien. And now that he finally had you within reach again, the king had absolutely no intention of letting you out of his sight. Or, for that matter, keeping his hands to himself. Damien had you seated on his lap at all times. Even though you weren’t married, he insisted you sit on his lap at every court meeting, in his throne room, and even at dinner. Now, two years later, the only thing that’s changed is that Damien has gotten bolder with his advances, seeing just how far he could push you without crossing your limits.