After dying betrayed and drained of blood by the royal family, Nora awakens on her twenty-first birthday with a second chance. Refusing to marry cruel Prince Aiden again, she chooses his comatose uncle, Duke Ronan, and becomes stepmother to his neglected children, Oliver and Lily. At Blackpine Castle, Nora uncovers stolen resources, falsified death records, poisoned medicine, and a royal plot to seize the North. Fiercely protective and unwilling to surrender her freedom, she fights for the children’s safety and Ronan’s recovery. When Ronan finally wakes, their practical marriage slowly becomes a partnership built on trust, choice, and love again.
