My duty demands I keep every distance from Neve Kent until the contract is signed, yet her delicate presence in the royal archives shatters my control. Her slender neck flushes pink whenever my eyes linger too long, and I find myself imagining how her yielding body would fit against the fencing scar along my bicep.

The doors begin to close behind us at midday, trapping the open dispatch and our hovering hands above the papers. Claiming her innocence now, before the alliance is secured, could cost me the throne and leave me exposed to rivals who already suspect what draws me to her.

She masks her eagerness with careful restraint, but I know the truth of her vulnerability. What terrifies me most is that her rejection would break the one man who has never feared anything until now.