What Do Machiavelli’S Quotes In The Prince Say About Moral Power?

"Some princes are born to rule. Others are born to kneel." Crown Prince Caelum Salutregui was raised to be humanity's perfect weapon—diplomatic, deadly, and utterly devoted to destroying the vampire empire. What he wasn't raised to know? He's vampire royalty himself. When the Ashan Federation offers him as a "peace tribute" to the very monsters he's sworn to hate, Caelum expects torture, death, maybe both. He doesn't expect General Velis Drayke—a sadist in uniform who sees right through his royal mask to the defiant soul beneath. But in the Crimson Dominion, submission is statecraft and pleasure is politics.

"You'd look pretty rolling your eyes like that when I'm in your throat." ~ Marriage was never for love-it was for legacy. A strategy. A performance. And for the Lombardis and the Morettis, it was the most calculated, showstopping alliance of the century. Roman Moretti, Don of the La Cosa Nostra, and Angeline Lombardi, only daughter of the French-Italian Mafia Capo, had been betrothed since her birth --matched to unite two empires under one crown. Hidden from the world, Angeline was raised to be the perfect wife. Groomed. Silenced. Controlled. She learned early that one misstep would strip her of everything-including her name. Everyone's first mistake? They underestimated her. Though no one had ever seen her, the world assumed the Lombardi Princess was a polished doll. Quiet. Disposable. Roman saw the marriage as a formality-another calculated step toward total dominance. He had no plans to love her. No plans to live with her. Just a wife on paper, tucked away from him elsewhere, summoned when needed for appearances. But everything changed the moment he saw her walking down the aisle. She was perfection. Untouchable. She would be his ruin, his weakness, his obsession, his motivation. His everything. But what if that had been her plan all along? Not everything buried stays dead. Not every identity is what it seems. In a world where saints become monsters and monsters are worshipped like gods, Angeline must decide what's worth saving: her bloodline, her love, or herself. ~ -HEA -Mature scenes/18+ -Romance/mystery/thriller -No Cheating/OWD -DARK ROMANCE

The darkness in his eyes, the dangerous smell of in his breath, and his deathly grip keeping me bound to him made my heart pound in my chest and my body quiver beneath him. Shamefully, it wasn't anything that I wasn't used to, because…the things I let him do to me? When he was frustrated, annoyed, and angry at the world, I was here to be his pound of flesh. In return, he masked the void of my loneliness because for months, that was the transaction of our relationship. He'd pin me to the wall, bend me over the counter, pull my hair, slap me, choke me, and I enjoyed every second of it because in that moment, it finally felt good to be powerless. Irony is a funny thing. I enjoyed being in pain because it made me forget how much I was hurting. *** "I warned you, doll." His voice strikes a string of chills down the base of my spine, a reminder that all of the time in the world could pass, and he's still not letting go. This is where the good girl in me dies. "You're mine now," he whispers. *** My name is Mercy—Mercy Carter. I went to college. Got myself a useless Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree. His name is Marcel—Marcello Saldívar. However, at the time, I didn't know that he, the heir to the Saldívar Mafia empire, was the man that I had blindly offered myself to. As smart as I am, I was stupid all the times when it actually mattered. After all, he did warn me he was dangerous. I just didn't think he could be much worse than my thug brother. I was vulnerable—naive. I belong to him. My name is Mercy, and I am the Mafia's Mercy.

In politics, love is leverage. Charlie Vale is collateral damage the son of a man branded a traitor, erased by the state and left to survive in its shadows. Dexter Ashcroft is the architect of power, a strategist so ruthless they call him the Kingmaker. When their lives collide, Dexter doesn’t silence Charlie. He owns him. Bound by a contract masquerading as salvation, Charlie becomes Dexter’s public partner and private liability. Every smile is staged. Every kindness costs something. And every truth is buried deeper. But when the past resurfaces and the wrong man is sacrificed again, the crown Dexter built begins to crack. Because the one thing power cannot control is what it destroys. A story of manipulation, redemption, and a love that refuses to survive on lies.

I was the "Sickly Prince"—a weak scholar hidden in oversized suits. But in the underworld, secrets are the only currency that matters, and mine is the most lethal of all. Aradaa Vaelis has spent twenty-one years hiding his elite combat training from his tyrannical father, the Don. But when his father gambles away his sister’s life, Aradaa is forced to shatter his facade. To save his sister, Aradaa makes a deal with the devil: he will become a human sacrifice for the Dreadfang Clan, a savage "Beast" Mafia known for their monstrous strength. His buyer? Kaelor Dreadfang. Known as the "Beast King," Kaelor is a man losing his mind to a feral rage and a slow poison. He doesn't want a soldier; he wants a "pretty toy" to break. But the moment they touch, a primal Mate Bond ignites—a shockwave of desire that neither can fight. Now, Aradaa is trapped in the King's Master Suite, serving as Kaelor’s "Exclusive." But as the Syndicate moves to destroy them both, Aradaa’s true lineage begins to surface. He isn't just a slave or a scholar—he is the Pure-Blood, the only one capable of curing the bio-weapon plague and ruling the underworld. The "Pretty Prince" is dead. The King’s partner has arrived. And together, they will burn the Syndicate to the ground.

“There will be no escape for you, Regina. You belong to me now; heart, body and soul. Mine to do with as I please.” Draco’s eyes were ablaze with deadly desire. I smirked in the face of death. “Good luck with that.” ** Regina Milanesi has never backed down from a challenge no matter who stood in her way. She’s risen from her ashes and is now on her way to becoming the most ruthless woman to take the criminal underworld by surprise. But in doing so, she’s garnered the attention of Leonardo Draconis D’Angelo, the Capo dei Capi, the most ruthless and heartless man in the underworld. She loathes him with a vehemence that can only be matched with her desire to claim and be claimed by him. But her addiction to Draco just might be the beginning of her downfall, like a moth drawn to the flames…or the start of a love story written in blood.