She was forced to marry a monster. He needed her to break his curse. Falling in love was never the deal. Princess Seraphina is sent to wed the feared Demon king. A man shrouded in darkness and secrets. Her plan? Make him hate her enough to send her back. But the palace is alive, the king is not what he seems. The longer she stays, the more she craves his darkness and touch. Dark, twisted and addictive. One bride, one demon, one curse that could end them both.
CHAPTER ONE: The Bargain
The day of her wedding smelled like iron and lavender.
Seraphina sat motionless in the velvet-lined carriage as it rolled through the last stretch of human land. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap. Her gown shimmered in the fading light-lace and jewels and the heavy weight of duty stitched into every seam.
She had not chosen it. She had not chosen any of this.
Outside, soldiers rode in silence, their armor bearing her family's crest. None of them looked at her. Not anymore.
Beyond them, the sky had started to change.
It was subtle at first-a shift in color, the air growing colder. The soft pastels of twilight faded into something sharper, deeper. A dull violet haze clung to the horizon like smoke.
Seraphina had never seen the border before.
But now that she was here, she understood why no one ever returned from beyond it.
The road ended in a stone arch. Tall. Weathered. Covered in black moss and strange runes that pulsed faintly in the dying light.
The soldiers stopped. The horses snorted uneasily. Not a single bird sang.
And then the carriage moved forward-alone.
Seraphina sat straighter. Her spine was steel, even if her stomach twisted.
She would not beg.
She would not cry.
And she would not be afraid of a man who had to hide behind shadows and magic.
A husband she had never seen.
A kingdom no one spoke of without whispering.
A bargain made by her father in the dead of night-for power, for peace, for reasons he never explained.
The carriage passed beneath the arch.
The world changed.
Light dimmed unnaturally. The sky deepened into bruised violet. The trees bent inward, their leaves dark as ink, their trunks weeping sap that shimmered like silver. The air thickened. Sound dulled.
She'd crossed into Veyrith.
The Demon King's realm.
Her new home.
The carriage slowed.
Outside the window, black stone towers rose like claws from the earth, twisting toward the sky. A palace carved from obsidian and shadow. No torches burned. No servants waited.
Just a long staircase.
And at the top, a figure stood.
Tall. Unmoving. Cloaked in night.
Her heart knocked once-hard-before she willed it silent.
The carriage door opened.
Seraphina stepped out without hesitation, her silks whispering around her ankles.
The figure did not move.
She met his gaze-those eyes, burning faintly red from beneath his hood-and raised her chin.
"I am Princess Seraphina of Aeloria," she said, voice even. "Daughter of the High House. Bride of the King."
The man said nothing.
She took the first step up the stairs.
He watched her like a predator deciding whether to strike.
Good, she thought.
Let him underestimate her.
She had no plans to be a quiet queen.
Chapter 1 THE BARGAIN
20/06/2025
Chapter 2 THE KING OF NOTHING
20/06/2025
Chapter 3 A PALACE THAT BREATHES
20/06/2025
Chapter 4 THE THORNS AND THE TRUTH
20/06/2025
Chapter 5 THE DEMON'S DINNER
20/06/2025
Chapter 6 THE DREAMING GATE
20/06/2025
Chapter 7 WHISPERS IN THE WALLS
20/06/2025
Chapter 8 THE EMBER PATH
20/06/2025
Chapter 9 THE MARK BENEATH HER SKIN
20/06/2025
Chapter 10 THE SHATTERED VALE
20/06/2025
Chapter 11 THE MEMORY THAT BLEEDS
20/06/2025
Chapter 12 THE BROKEN VOW
20/06/2025
Chapter 13 A QUEEN'S RAGE
20/06/2025
Chapter 14 The Gathering Storm
01/07/2025
Chapter 15 Beneath The Mask
02/07/2025
Chapter 16 The Court Rises
02/07/2025
Chapter 17 The Buried Throne
02/07/2025
Chapter 18 Blood in the flames
03/07/2025
Chapter 19 Embers in the Blood
03/07/2025
Chapter 20 The Flame's Memory
03/07/2025
Chapter 21 Dreams Of Ruin
03/07/2025
Chapter 22 Fire That Remembers The Earth Split
04/07/2025
Chapter 23 The Forge Below The Descent Had No End
04/07/2025
Chapter 24 The Queen Who Burned
04/07/2025
Chapter 25 The Knife Behind The FLAME
04/07/2025
Chapter 26 The Prince Of Knives
05/07/2025
Chapter 27 The Other Flame
05/07/2025
Chapter 28 The Seed Of Doubt
07/07/2025
Chapter 29 The Path Of Embers
07/07/2025
Chapter 30 Ashes in the veins
07/07/2025
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