The Valdris bloodline is cursed. Every queen before her died before her twentieth year, claimed by the Ashen Mark — the dark brand burned into royal skin at birth, spreading like shadows across flesh until it swallows the heart whole. Princess Seraphine has nineteen years, eleven months, and a kingdom full of people who'd rather watch her die quietly than let her live loudly.She has other plans. When the court demands she marry before the curse takes her — producing an heir to secure the bloodline's future — Sera does what she's always done: refuses. What she doesn't expect is to find herself bound, by ancient magic older than the kingdom itself, to four rogue Alphas the crown has spent years trying to erase.Caelan, the exiled general whose cold precision could win any war — including the one being waged against her.Riven, the borderland warrior whose fierce loyalty is the most dangerous thing she's ever wanted.Soren, the forbidden healer who sees through every wall she's built and refuses to pretend he doesn't.Zephyr, the untameable rogue who makes her laugh in the dark and fight harder in the light. The crown calls them criminals. The curse calls them the key.Sera calls them hers.Breaking the Ashen Mark will require blood, sacrifice, and the kind of forbidden bond the kingdom has outlawed for centuries. But Seraphine Valdris did not survive nineteen years of a death sentence to go quietly now.She was born cursed. She intends to die a queen.