Empress Palace

"We can never be close-" Ahankara said, but couldn't finish her sentence as the small of her back pressed against the water fountain, with Yashvir standing right in front of her. She sucked in a breath, feeling her heart beat pace. "You were saying?" Yashvir raised an eyebrow, taking one last step towards her, so that her body would touch his if either of them moved even in an inch towards each other. "We-we can never be close, Yuvraj," Ahankara replied, even though she felt her voice would disappear any second. "Get away from me." "Hmm, only time will tell that, Princess," Yashvir replied, now leaning towards her.- - - -Yashvir Rathore of Kalang is a fierce Prince, known to be cruel and vicious. Being the Crown Prince of the strongest Kingdom in the state, he has a million responsibilities to take care of, which has made him arrogant and bitter. He is engaged to a Princess from a strong kingdom, so she would eventually become his Queen and further strengthen his rule. Ahankara Singh of the small kingdom of Adibar, is not your average Princess. Not only is she ravishingly beautiful, but at the same time witty, talented, generous and proud of those qualities. There is only one thing she hates in the world more than cruelty: cruel kings. So what happens when one such King meets her by accident, and is immediately awestruck by her elegance and her beauty? Yashvir forgets everything about his engagement, and decides that he wants her, and no one can stop him from getting what he wants.We thus get a marriage of coercion, a fairy-tale of one sided love, drama, palace intrigues, a lot of romance, and a roller-coaster of emotions, forming the story of Yashvir and Ahankara - Of Flames and Roses.

He catches my wrist as I try to flee, spinning me back against his chest in the empty hallway. "Running from me again? That's not very stepmother-ly of you." His lips brush the shell of my ear, and I shiver. "Let me go, Klaus," I manage, though my body melts into his touch. "Before someone sees…" "Let them," he murmurs, his hand sliding up my thigh beneath my skirts. "Let the whole kingdom see and know that you are mine, damnit!” ***** She wore a veil and a lie when she walked into the palace as the Alpha King's bride. But revenge has a way of getting complicated when your fated mate is your new stepson. Margaux should be dead. Her mate rejected her, and the Alpha King slaughtered her family—but she survived, and now she's back wearing someone else's face. Her plan is simple: marry the King, gain his trust, and destroy him from within. What she didn't plan for was him. Klaus recognizes her the moment their eyes meet across the throne room, mate bond blazing to life despite the years and lies between them. He's the King's son. Her stepson now. The man who shattered her heart. And he's making it very clear that he doesn't care about scandal, propriety, or the fact that she belongs to his father—at least on paper. He never stopped wanting her. He never stopped loving her. But Klaus doesn't know the whole truth: his father murdered her family in cold blood, and Margaux won't rest until she's bathed in the King's destruction. She should be focused on vengeance, not the forbidden heat that ignites every time Klaus corners her in darkened hallways. She should hate him for abandoning her. She does hate him. So why can't she stay away?

On my eighteenth birthday, the High King summoned the heirs of the four great clans—the Vampires, the Werewolves, the High Serpent Clan, and the Merfolk. He laid their portraits before me and said, "Choose one to be your bondmate." I did not hesitate. I pointed to Damon—the werewolf with no noble bloodline, born in a forgotten corner of the realm. The entire court erupted in disbelief. Everyone knew who I used to love. Alpha Iris—the heir of the most powerful Lycan bloodline. For seven years, I chased him with blind devotion. No matter how harshly he treated me, I never gave up. I confessed to him over and over, sometimes right in the royal court. I even performed a blood-binding ritual—slitting my wrist—to earn the right to marry him. In my previous life, I got what I wanted—I married him and we performed the mate bonding ceremony. With that union, he inherited the High King's resources and rose to become the ruler of all four clans. However, what I did not expect was that after our wedding, he turned around and marked my adoptive sister. My parents were furious and sent her away. From that day on, Iris hated me with a vengeance. He surrounded himself with women who all looked eerily like her. One by one, they came—each more vicious than the last. With his silent approval, they tore me down, piece by piece, until I was nothing more than a joke—no longer the queen I once was. The suffering pushed me into severe depression. Only suppressants keep my wolf form from spiraling out of control. Until one day, my medication was replaced with a slow-acting poison. He was the one who did it. I died alone, locked away in the cold palace, a child still growing inside me. However, fate gave me another chance. In this life, I would not make the same mistake. When the High King once again asked me to choose a partner for the marriage alliance, I chose Damon—the one no one ever noticed—without even blinking. I thought I was finally free of the past. However, the moment the engagement was announced… Alpha Iris lost his mind.