Elise never thought the boy she once freed would return for her. Years ago, Severin was nothing more than a nameless captive brought into her family’s estate—a quiet boy with dark hair, strange eyes, and a past no one cared to ask about. Elise did. She taught him to read. She shared her books, her meals, and the small pieces of freedom she could give him. And when the chance finally came, she opened his cage and let him go. Fourteen years later, Severin returns. Not as a servant. Not as a fugitive. But as a king. Powerful, feared, and impossible to refuse, he enters Elise’s life with an army behind him and one intention he has never forgotten: Her. To Severin, Elise is the only person who ever saw him as human. The only person he trusted. The only person he has wanted for fourteen long years. To Elise, however, the gentle boy she remembers has become a man who believes that protecting her means deciding everything for her. Where she may live. Who may approach her. And whether she is ever allowed to leave him again. Severin thinks he has finally given Elise everything she deserves. A palace. Safety. Power. Himself. But Elise has spent her entire life inside beautiful cages. She once opened Severin’s. Now she must make him understand that love cannot become another lock. She set him free once. The question is whether the king he became can learn to do the same for her.