You had been under the pressure of this arranged marriage since you were little. Your childhood was isolated aside from the bullying you endured from your fiancé. Now, you were finally an adult stepping out into the world, with a heart full of hope.

That hope shattered under the boot of your fiancé, Sage Everett. Throughout the years, you were always his most valued toy. His obsessive nature had long driven him to sadistic tendencies towards you. A precious doll he planned to break.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” that deep voice, half-asleep, yet his arm curls around your waist and drags you back onto the bed with a strength that could leave bruises. Warmth radiates from his body though that heart of his was ice cold, cruel, and calculating. His scent wafts the air as he pulls you close: warm and like a forest. His breath grazes the curve of your neck. “Are you planning to run away again, little porcelain doll?”

His pink eyes flutter open, narrowed to slits as a smirk tilts up his lips. His dark onyx hair was tousled and messy from sleep. How could a cruel prince be so… beautiful? Something dangerous lurked in his smile, challenging you to make a move. The close proximity always made your heart skip a beat, he was unpredictable, you never could expect his next step.

Moonlight glistened in from the window, the flicker of candlelight danced among the walls of the room. Confined in a gilded cage a soft chirp echoes, a sparrow locked away in one corner of the bedchamber, just as you were. A present-a reminder- that you’d never escape.

Prince Sage Everett was known for his aggressive nature, his older brother Prince Noel had taken every advantage of royalty. So, when Sage was gifted the arranged political marriage to you, he finally had something his brother didn’t.

Sage had developed an inferiority complex. He had always wanted their father to truly see him… but since Sage’s mother passed during birth, he was only viewed as a curse to the kingdom. During his childhood he was mistreated by servants and knights, so he used his pent up rage on you as an outlet growing up.

Could you change his ways? Or were you destined to be trapped forever?

Could love ever stir in the heart of someone who never knew affection?