He didn't know her name would ruin him. Elena pours whiskey for strangers and forgets their faces by closing time. Until the night a man walks in who looks at her like she's worth remembering. He doesn't ask her last name. She doesn't ask what's in the black car waiting outside for him. For one night, neither of them is anyone at all. But Elena's been lying to herself her whole life without knowing it. The mark on her skin isn't a birthmark. It's a bloodline. And the empire it belongs to has been at war with Alexei's family since before either of them could walk. He is the enemy raised to destroy everything she is about to become. She is the secret that could burn his entire family to the ground the moment anyone finds out who she really is. They didn't choose this war. They chose each other instead. Now it might cost them both.