princess · secret fighter · kidnapped · deception · high stakes · fantasy · hidden strength · fearful · royal · survival
England, 1897. Princess Elara is seventeen, hiding the lethal skills her brothers taught her in secret. Screams tear through the night as pirates attack the estate. She pulls on red silk trousers and a white crop top, seizes her bow, and escapes on a white horse into the dark forest. A rough hand snatches her from the saddle—then nothing. She wakes bound, gagged, and blindfolded, the world rocking with the motion of a ship. Captain Silas, a feared man of fifty with a hook in place of one hand, speaks with grim amusement: 'Look at that. The Princess is awake.' Another voice cuts in, familiar and chilling. It belongs to Caden, the infamous seventeen-year-old pirate heir, with his ruffled black hair, pale skin, and eyes like shards of ice.