Azalea thought coming home would feel like finding her way back to herself.It didn’t.After four years studying medicine in Oxlane, she returns to a kingdom already buckling under its own problems. There are duties waiting for her, expectations she never agreed to, and rumors of danger gathering beyond the borders.Before she has time to settle in, her family gives her an order disguised as a choice:Marry a stranger.The marriage is meant to secure an alliance between two kingdoms. Something is coming, and neither kingdom can face it alone.Her new husband is distant, difficult to read, and clearly has no interest in letting her get close. Azalea has never been good at backing down, especially when people treat her like a helpless princess, so she refuses to make the arrangement easy for him.Then the war reaches them.With her medical training, Azalea is sent closer to the fighting than anyone expected. As the kingdom starts to fall apart, she uncovers pieces of the war, the alliance, and her husband that don’t fit together.The more she learns, the less she trusts the story she was given.Their marriage was never about love.It was supposed to keep them alive.But staying alive may cost them more than either of them is prepared to lose.