Wren knows how to save a collapsing ceiling. Becoming a queen was never part of the job.

She came to Sarvenia to restore a palace chapel, with plaster dust on her sleeves and her next departure already possible. Then the king dies, an ancient law gives his successor ninety days to be crowned as a married man, and her work becomes entangled with the future of a country.

Casimir Marek needs a wife who can stand beside him without bringing another dynasty's demands. Wren needs terms that leave her work, her choices and her eventual exit intact.

Their agreement is practical. Life inside it is not.

Behind the schedules and ceremony, Wren begins to find a man whose smallest kindnesses matter more than the crown. Casimir discovers how much he wants her company when no one is watching. But the palace knows how to turn a person into a role, and the arrangement contains truths he has not told her.

Wren can learn to wear the ring. Whether she can keep herself-and trust the man who gave it to her-is another question.