The crown of Tenebral was never meant for Reyes Cruz Calderón. He took it anyway.

Princess Aireya Alcántara came to Tenebral to celebrate her cousin's first blessing. By dawn, the king is dead and a stranger sits on the throne: the bastard prince no one knew existed, commanding shadows that answer only to royal blood.

He wants the infant heir. Aireya refuses to surrender her.

So Reyes offers a bargain: remain in his court for one month. If, at the end of it, she still believes the child isn't safe with him, he won't stand in her way.

Aireya has no magic, no allies, and no reason to trust the man who seized a kingdom by the sword. But as assassins slip past the castle walls and enemies gather beyond them, Reyes proves far more difficult to hate than the ruthless conqueror she expected. And the princess who challenges him at every turn becomes indispensable to a court that isn't hers—and to a king who needs a queen.

Aireya has spent her entire life being told where she belongs. Reyes is determined to convince her it's beside him.

But Tenebral is built on secrets, and Reyes is keeping more than his share—about Aireya’s family, her past, and truths she was never meant to uncover. In a court of shadows, everyone claims to be protecting her. Aireya is about to discover what that protection has cost her—and what happens when she finally chooses for herself.