Her strikes in the dark turn to rough caresses in the night… 

Kael has one mission. To kill the man who rules the desert city with an armored fist; the Beast who ravages her people and works them to death in his sweltering mines, intent only on retrieving more metal to fuel their wretched empire. It was supposed to be easy: allow herself to be captured and offered up as the reward to the winner of the gladiator match, then kill him once she was placed in his harem. No one ever dared best the Beast, instead forfeiting to avoid having their heads join the sand-crusted skulls that adorned the city walls. 

Until today. 

Theron doesn’t know why he did it. He’d never had a problem letting his brother win before, uninterested in the cowering females that were offered up as concubines. That was until he saw the gorgeous woman glaring at him across the colosseum sands, the hate on her lovely face blazing as hot as the desert sun. She didn’t shrink and cry like the other trophies, instead, her eyes followed his movements as if she wished she could skewer him herself. He defeated his brother easily, intent only on claiming her for himself and damning the political consequences. 

If only he’d known what he’d set in motion. 

Kael’s careful plan is torn to shreds when the handsome Lord Marshal, Theron, claims her as his. Her hands ache with the need to put her blade to his throat, to slay him for what he did to her family years ago when his army marched on her home. The wicked Marshal and his fearsome Harvestmen may have been relegated from the front lines to slave-chasers in the desert, but she would never forget the promise she etched into the handle of her sword. 

Kill Theron Axidor. 

It doesn’t matter that killing him would ruin her allies’ plans to retake the city. Or that the longer he keeps her, the more she sees underneath his deadly exterior to the man within. The lust she feels for him has to be the enchantments placed on all royal concubines. There’s no way she could fall for the man she vowed to destroy. 

Is there?