She’s the key to his freedom, and his heart.

In the decade he’s been half man, half beast, Mael has given up on finding anything but misery. Forced to serve the cruel Prince Hartwin of the Isles, Mael tortures people until they turn into man-eating monsters. Even worse, a sick part of him enjoys it.

But his master Prince Hartwin is desperate to put an end to the war the Isles has been fighting, and losing, to the kingdom of Gallia for nearly a century. So the prince offers Mael a final task, the reward being the one thing Mael can’t refuse—his freedom. All he has to do is convince Princess Khari of Gallia to accept Hartwin’s hand in marriage. Mael is ready to do whatever it takes to complete the job—including making sure the princess has experience on how to properly pleasure the prince.

Princess Khari is used to living in the shadow of her brother, King Cahir. She’s expected to be the perfect princess, good for nothing but pretty posturing and balls. But she longs to do something more meaningful for her people in the face of the war that’s been wearing them down for decades. Prince Hartwin’s proposal offers her the opportunity to end the war for her subjects, even if it goes against her brother’s wishes and forces her to travel alone with the dangerous Mael back to the Isles. It’s a small price to bear to save her people.

That is until she learns the prince expects her to learn how to pleasure a man with someone else.

Though Khari desperately wants to stop the war, she can’t stand the thought of sharing herself with someone she doesn’t care about. But she soon finds herself warming to the handsome Mael.

The two agree that Mael will teach Khari the art of pleasure while he takes her back to the Isles. Except neither are prepared for the feelings that grow between them the longer they spend together. Feelings that go deeper than either thought they would ever have.

Mael begins to question whether his freedom is worth sacrificing the only person he’s cared about in a decade. And though Khari needs to help her people, she can’t deny how strongly she cares for a man no one else will save.

And the answers to those questions could spell ruin for both their hearts.