

The night before our 17th wedding attempt, my mafia husband, Rafaeal Holloway, looks at me and promises an uninterrupted wedding. He solemnly swears. "Gianna, I promise you. I told Natalia that even if the sky falls, she'll deal with it alone." I am five months pregnant by then. After three years of dating and five months carrying his child, we've never managed to make it down the aisle because he's canceled the past 16 weddings. Every single time, it's for his sworn sister, Natalia Sullivan. The first time, she claims she has a fever. I spend the whole night at the hospital, still in my wedding dress, just to find out she has a mild cold. The second time, she claims her chest hurts. Rafael abandons me mid-wedding and rushes to her side, while she's out laughing over afternoon tea with friends. The third time, she cries for fear of thunder. He bolts mid-vows and leaves me alone in a hall full of staring guests. But everything's different now. Three days ago, a letter arrived from Northern Silenzio. My father, the Don of the Rossetti family, has finally summoned me home. If Rafael walks away for Natalia one more time, I'll leave for good.

Once a crown prince, Finn Clark lives as a commoner after being rescued by Helen Smith, who raises him amid scorn and hardship. Though only a lowborn's daughter, she shields him, urging him to train in secret and wait for his moment. Enduring humiliation from Mark Smith and protecting his love Grace Conley, Finn hides his strength—until the combat tournament, where he shocks the realm and unknowingly draws his father,Emperor Sean Clark, closer to finding him.

General Valerie, commander of the human legions, returns in triumph—only to find her family slaughtered and her parents' souls imprisoned. King Edmund, who once promised her the crown, has broken his oath and submitted to the Archbishop. Valerie reclaims command of her armies, slays those who murdered her kin, but is soon cornered by the Archbishop, who holds her parents' souls and the lives of her entire legion as leverage. Forced into an alliance with Raven, lord of Black Keep, she leads her human legions in a counteroffensive against the capital. They dismantle the old system, punish the king, and strike down the Archbishop himself. In the end, Valerie rejects the crown she once sought and establishes a new order—one built on freedom, not thrones.