When Myrren Vale is summoned to the royal palace, she expects suspicion. She expects secrets.
She does not expect him.
In the kingdom of Eirden—where magic hums beneath silk and every smile hides a blade—Myrren serves as a scentcrafter, trained in herbs, toxins, and the silent truths that cling to blood.
The court wants her quiet.
The crown wants her gone.
But Prince Thane… sees her.
Golden, gracious, and far too kind for the thorns surrounding his throne, he draws her into the palace’s glittering heart—offering warmth, safety, and something dangerously close to belonging.
Yet not all eyes in the palace are kind. The king’s ward, Lord Corven, watches her with unreadable silence—as if her very breath carries a truth he cannot ignore.
When nobles begin to die and the scents on their corpses whisper of poisons Myrren once crafted, she realizes the greatest danger is not the court’s corruption, nor the ancient power stirring awake beneath its stones.
It is what love makes you blind to.
- Author’s Note 147 Words
- Chapter 1: The Summons 1,364 Words
- Chapter 2: The Golden Prince 1,176 Words
- Chapter 3: The Ward in Shadows 1,139 Words
- Chapter 4: The First Death 1,009 Words
- Chapter 5: The Bait 1,276 Words
- Chapter 6: A Garden of Stars 1,515 Words
- Chapter 7: The Silent Warning 1,134 Words
- Chapter 8: Court Masks 1,388 Words
- Chapter 9: Secrets in the West Wing 1,242 Words
- Chapter 10: Firelight Promises 1,697 Words
- Chapter 11: The Bomb 1,124 Words
- Chapter 12: The Tether 1,428 Words
- Chapter 13: The Queen’s Order 1,415 Words
- Chapter 14: The Graymere Road 1,527 Words
- Chapter 15: Graymere’s Poison 1,368 Words
- Chapter 16: Storm Shelter Kiss 1,611 Words
- Chapter 17: The Silent Return 1,590 Words
- Chapter 18: Drunken Confession 1,972 Words
- Chapter 19: The Poisoned Chalice 1,356 Words
- Chapter 20: The Wrong Head on the Block 1,648 Words
- Chapter 21: Spiral Mark 1,543 Words
- Chapter 22: Between Shadows & Light 1,457 Words
- Chapter 23: The Weight of a Vow 1,556 Words
- Chapter 24: The Spiral Awakens 1,396 Words
- Chapter 25: The Mask of Devotion 1,130 Words
- Chapter 26: Seliora’s Warning 1,454 Words
- Chapter 27: The Fox and the Chain 1,412 Words
- Chapter 28: A Banquet of Shadows 1,397 Words
- Chapter 29: Ori’s Fear 1,418 Words
- Chapter 29: The Queen’s Eyes 1,268 Words
- Chapter 34: Holt’s Doubt 1,699 Words
- Chapter 35: A Journal of Names 1,482 Words
- Chapter 36: The Trial That Wasn’t 1,528 Words
- Chapter 37: Chains in the Dark 1,326 Words
- Chapter 38: Between Firelight and Ash 1,351 Words
- Chapter 39: Seliora’s Betrayal 1,354 Words
- Chapter 40: The Spiral Splits 1,441 Words
- Chapter 41: Poison in the Kitchens 1,512 Words
- Chapter 42: Chains of Debt 1,636 Words
- Chapter 43: Ori’s Fury 1,560 Words
- Chapter 44: The Crown’s Burden 1,339 Words
- Chapter 45: Court Whispers 1,323 Words
- Chapter 46: A Prince’s Promise 1,277 Words
- Chapter 47: Corven’s Tether 1,494 Words
- Chapter 48: Working in Silence 1,438 Words
- Chapter 49: The Queen’s Silence 1,299 Words
- Chapter 50: Shadows at the Door 1,402 Words
- Chapter 51: Storm Shelter 1,226 Words
- Chapter 52: The Spiral’s Denial 1,349 Words
- Chapter 53: Thane’s Suspicion 1,460 Words
- Chapter 54: Seliora’s Counsel 1,515 Words
- Chapter 55: Assassin’s Arrow 1,486 Words
- Chapter 56: The Weight of Debt 1,467 Words
- Chapter 57: Ori’s Tears 1,559 Words
- Chapter 58: Thane’s Doubt 1,414 Words
- Chapter 60: The Broken Spiral 2,231 Words
- Chapter 61: A Crown’s Demand 1,383 Words
- Chapter 62: Two Shadows Depart 1,730 Words
- Chapter 63: A Village Repeats 1,433 Words
- Chapter 64: Serenya’s Visit 1,370 Words
- Chapter 65: A Memory That Cuts 1,481 Words
- Chapter 66: The Archivist’s Ledger 1,712 Words
- Chapter 67: Fires in Frostmint 1,827 Words
- Chapter 68: A Tether Pulls Too Hard 1,439 Words
- Chapter 69: The Queen’s Mirror 1,362 Words
- Chapter 70: The Marriage Ultimatum 1,535 Words
- Chapter 72: Chains and Vows 1,286 Words
- Chapter 73: The Trial Whispered 1,862 Words
- Chapter 74: A Fox and a Flame 1,832 Words
- Chapter 75: Crown of Ash 1,661 Words
- Chapter 76: The Smoke Wakes 1,733 Words
- Chapter 77: Eryndor’s Fragment 1,475 Words
- Chapter 78: The Whispers Below 1,755 Words
- Chapter 79: False Echoes 1,578 Words
- Chapter 80: Bones in the Chapel 1,935 Words
- Chapter 81: The King’s Secret 2,040 Words
- Chapter 82: Trial of Tethers 1,832 Words
- Chapter 83: The Tether Splits 1,914 Words
- Chapter 84: Veil of Mirrors 1,778 Words
- Chapter 85: Ash and Water 1,644 Words
- Chapter 86: The Collapsing Spiral 1,613 Words
- Chapter 87: Lovers and Liars 1,750 Words
- Chapter 88: Tether’s Truth 1,607 Words
- Chapter 89: The Court Burns 1,790 Words
- Chapter 90: The Choice Beneath Ash 1,592 Words
- Chapter 91: The Spiral Crown 1,833 Words
- Chapter 92: The Trial Begins 1,811 Words
- Chapter 93: Shadows Intervene 1,910 Words
- Chapter 94: The First Accusation 1,962 Words
- Chapter 95: The Mask Shatters 1,825 Words
- Chapter 96: Serenya Speaks 1,638 Words
- Chapter 97: The Gallows Vision 1,907 Words
- Chapter 98: Chains or Ash 1,465 Words
- Chapter 99: The Queen’s Game 1,993 Words
- Chapter 100: Thane’s Choice 1,453 Words
- Chapter 101: Echo Fever 2,078 Words
- Chapter 102: Journal of Names 2,195 Words
- Chapter 103: Seliora’s Betrayal 1,919 Words
- Chapter 104: The First Spiral 1,579 Words
- Chapter 105: The Shadow’s Claim 1,334 Words
- Chapter 106: The Spiral Cracks 1,895 Words
- Chapter 107: Break the Tether 2,237 Words
- Chapter 108: The Spiral Is Broken 1,941 Words
- Chapter 109: Memory Burn 1,890 Words
- Chapter 110: The New Spiral 1,843 Words
- Chapter 111: The Scent of Silence 1,799 Words
- Chapter 112: Crown Without Throne 1,643 Words
- Chapter 113: The Spiral’s Daughter 1,333 Words
- Chapter 114: No One Remembers 1,613 Words
- Chapter 115: Ash and After 1,604 Words
