Each generation, a bride is sent beyond the Veil.
None return.
The Shadow King rules a realm of living twilight — feared, cursed, and whispered about in mortal courts as a monster crowned in darkness. The Veil that separates his world from ours has held for centuries.
Until he chooses her by name.
Arwen Umbra was never meant to be ordinary. When the ancient magic of the Veil carves her name into shadow, she is taken not as sacrifice — but as sovereign. And when she finally stands before the infamous Shadow King, Trace, she discovers something far more dangerous than a monster.
He has been waiting for her.
As her hidden power awakens, Arwen learns the truth: the Veil was never just a barrier. It was a wound. One forged in war between light and shadow — and her soul has always been at its center.
But when the Dominion of Light begins manipulating mortal kingdoms, spreading prophecy and fear to fracture the fragile peace, Arwen must make an impossible choice: remain safely beside the king who would burn the world for her… or cross into enemy territory and confront the origin of the fracture itself.
What begins as tribute becomes transformation.
What begins as captivity becomes devotion.
And what begins as shadow may be the only thing capable of saving the light.
For readers who love monster kings, dangerous devotion, and heroines who do not kneel.
