ARIC
I didn’t marry for love. Men like me don’t get that luxury.
We marry to make deals. End wars. Keep power exactly where it belongs.
Ayanna Almaviri was supposed to be just business.
A royal princess traded into my criminal empire to advance her father’s ambitions and keep the fragile peace from collapsing.
A carefully placed piece on a very dangerous board.
A wife in name only.
Until the thought of losing her started to feel too damn close to losing control… And control is the one thing I never lose.
Now every instinct I’ve spent years burying—ruthless, possessive, unforgiving—is saying the same thing:
Mine.
And the hardest part isn’t wanting her.
It’s hiding how easily l’d burn the world to keep her.
AYANNA
I was raised to marry royalty.
Instead, I was given to a man more powerful than kings, because he doesn’t need a crown to be obeyed.
Aric Vold. The Norwegian crime lord they call the Viking.
Cold. Calculated. Capable of extraordinary restraint, and even greater devastation when that restraint finally breaks.
I told myself I wouldn’t fall for him.
But he takes bullets meant for me.
Breaks rules he once treated as sacred.
And every time he says “my wife” like a warning to the world… I forget he was never meant to be mine.
And I’m starting to realize…
Loving him is the deadliest gamble of all.
Book two of the Gods of Corruption series, where each book is interconnected but can be read as a standalone.