A king without a queen is not a king. For twelve years, the throne of Drakhengard has waited. With his father bound by an ancient curse and the Council growing impatient, Prince Lysander Kael von Drakhengard is running out of time. There is only one thing standing between him and the crown: he must find his true mate. Lysander has never believed in mates. To him, love is a weakness, and fate is nothing more than an inconvenient excuse for political decisions. Then he finds her. Not in any of the four kingdoms, but beyond a forbidden portal leading to a world where vampires, sorcerers, elves, and monsters exist only in stories. Aeris is human-raised, with no noble blood, no family name, and no knowledge of the world Lysander comes from. Yet the moment he finds her, he knows. She is his mate. Bringing her into his world should have been the answer to his greatest problem. Instead, it raises questions he cannot ignore. Why does her blood smell different? Why was a child left beyond a forbidden portal twenty-two years ago, never meant to return? As Lysander struggles to protect Aeris from a world that does not understand what she is, tensions within the royal court begin to rise. Someone is watching her. Someone who knows that whatever lies hidden inside her could change the balance of power forever. Lysander went looking for the woman who would help him claim the throne. He may have found something far more dangerous instead.