The master's favouriteUpdated at Aug 5, 2025, 09:37
Nineteen year-old Clara Vale, raised in silence at a cold, controlling convent, is told on her birthday that she is being sent away. A mysterious nobleman has paid off the convent’s debts and she is now part of that payment.
She is brought by carriage through the misty woods to Blackthorn Manor, a massive, crumbling estate deep in the forest. There, she meets Dorian Ashbourne, a cold and commanding man who tells her she now belongs to him.But Dorian is not cruel in the way Clara expects. He does not strike her, scold her, or demand obedience by force. Instead, he watches her. Gives her rules. Controls her through stillness and silence—and makes her feel something she never has before: seen.
As Clara begins her life in the manor, she finds herself craving his voice, his approval, and his power over her. But also,struggling to keep hold of her own. And she quickly learns she is not the first girl to live behind these locked doors.When a second man , Lucien Mercier, a handsome, clever outsider—arrives at the manor, Clara is suddenly torn between two forces: the man who owns her... and the one who wants to steal her away.But Lucien’s interest is not just in Clara. He’s digging into the secrets of Blackthorn. And he may hold the truth about Dorian’s dead wife—and Clara’s own past.