"A slow-burn dark fantasy romance." --- Mother once told me my eyes were taken at birth because I was a damnation. She was right. I spent twenty years in the dark, navigating a quiet world through sound, scent, and touch, believing my mother loved me enough to keep me safe. That she was protecting me from the world outside our cottage. Then the royal guards came. I was dragged from my home as a human tribute to the obsidian palace. The Court of Shadows. A kingdom trapped in perpetual darkness under a ruthless tyrant—King Xalvador. A demonic-born dragon king, infamous for cruel, mocking games. He demanded human maidens as ornaments. Ornaments to bear his children. Blind and entirely vulnerable, I expected to be the first killed. Then he stepped into my space, and everything changed. An invisible, agonizing tether snapped tight between us, a violent, addictive pull. The longer he stayed near, the weaker I became, as if my very life was leaking into his veins. I didn't know it then, but a generational curse had just awakened. His love would be my literal death. Draining my radiant energy until I was nothing but a hollow shell. Overnight, my survival depended on seeing through a monster's mask. While the court cowered before a terrifying dictator, my heightened senses caught what others missed. The tremor in his voice when he held me. The desperate, burning warmth beneath his cold touch. He became my terrifying protector. Holding me at a dark distance. Hiding a devastating secret about what it truly takes to keep me alive. I thought I was beginning to understand him. I thought I'd found a safe haven. Then the King's second-in-command stepped into my life. Vaelen. A proud, righteous dragon lord. A gentle voice who offered friendship, who wanted to save me from Xalvador's demonic taint. For one fragile, foolish moment, I let myself trust him. I should have known better. In a world of shadows, everyone wears a mask. Including my mate. My friend. And my mother.