Introduction

The cold moonlight painted shadows across the floor, doing nothing to warm the chill that had settled deep in my bones as I knelt before my husband, Valerius.

Just a year ago, he had promised me forever, swearing he' d always be my shield. Now, he looked at me with cold disgust.

"Explain this," he demanded, tearing open my nightgown to reveal the withered flower branded into my shoulder – a symbol of shame, a mark of the lowest.

Tears welled, blurring his furious face. I couldn' t tell him the truth, a horrific secret I' d sworn to keep to protect him.

He shoved me away, calling me soiled, then laughed cruelly, refusing to "dirty his hands" on me, before storming out, slamming the door on everything we were.

Driven by desperation, I tried to carve the mark off, nearly taking my life before my maid, Clara, stopped me, suggesting a brutal herbal remedy instead.

The agony was blinding, but I endured it, for him, for us, for the love I yearned to reclaim.

With a raw, weeping scar where the brand once was, I found him, hoping to see a flicker of the man I knew.

He stared at my wound, then laughed, a short, ugly sound. "A scar is just as ugly as a brand. It proves nothing."

My hope shattered, he delivered the final blow: he was marrying my cousin, Isabella, in a week.

The physical pain from my scar was nothing compared to the gaping wound he' d torn in my chest, leaving me an empty void.