Every generation, a bride's wedding vow renews the ward that keeps the winter court alive. No one ever told her what the vow actually costs.
Rowan Sterne volunteered to be this year's treaty-bride rather than let the lot fall on a neighbor with children to raise. She expected a cold marriage to a fae lord she'd never met, a correct, distant husband, and a wedding vow that meant nothing beyond the ward it was sworn to renew.She didn't expect the ice in her new home to answer her the way ice always has, in secret, since she was nine years old — with truths nobody sealed on purpose, and a tiredness two hundred years deep.
Torin agreed to the marriage because refusing would only mean his aunt chose worse for both of them. He's spent two centuries being told correctness and duty were the whole of what a good lord owed his court — until his new wife starts asking the one question no one has asked their court's dragon in two hundred years: what do you want?
The wedding vow they spoke was never a partnership. It was a tap — bleeding a dying dragon a little more with every "convincing" performance, dressed up for two hundred years as the only thing standing between their people and a blight that swallows everything warmth touches.
Finding the truth means defying the beloved Dowager Steward who built the lie, racing a border that's closing faster than any treaty-bride's marriage has failed before, and discovering that the vow that actually saves everyone was never the one either of them was told to speak.
Perfect for readers who love marriage-of-convenience slow burn, morally-grey fae courts, and a dragon who finally gets asked what she wants.
- 🐉 Marriage-of-convenience romance with a devastating twist — the "I do" was never for them
❄️ A winter court ward that runs on consent, not duty, and no one was ever supposed to find out
⚖️ A beloved Dowager Steward who is never once lying about the danger — and is dangerous anyway
🗝️ A hidden gift, a silenced mother, and an exiled dragon-keeper who kept the truth eleven years
💍 Standalone romantasy with a full, satisfying HEA
Full-length romantasy (56,000+ words). Standalone love story with a satisfying HEA. Intended for readers 18+.
Genre: Fantasy
Used availability for Sasha Leone's Frostvow