A Marriage Paid in Blood (Kings of Blood and Shadow #1)

The man accused of murdering my brother stood ten feet from his coffin.

Now my family expects me to marry him.

Nico Orsini is cold, controlled, and dangerous enough to turn a wedding vow into a threat. He says he did not kill Marco. I have no reason to believe him—and every reason to fear what will happen if the Bellandi and Orsini families go to war.

Our marriage is supposed to buy peace. Instead, a bomb, deleted surveillance footage, and a message from the dead expose a conspiracy designed to make our families destroy each other.

Nico needs the alliance. I need the truth. Neither of us expects the attraction growing between us through whispered negotiations, dangerous discoveries, and nights when trust feels more frightening than desire.

But I refuse to become an obedient wife or another bargaining chip. If Nico wants me beside him, he will have to surrender control, give me a real choice, and prove that the monster everyone fears is not the man who murdered my brother.

The closer we get to the truth, the more dangerous our marriage becomes. Because our enemy knows exactly what we are willing to bleed for—and by then, Nico and I are no longer pretending.

Our marriage was meant to stop a war. Someone intends to make us pay for it in blood.

A standalone adult dark romance with intense chemistry, deadly family secrets, and a complete, hard-won happily ever after.