The palace stood in ruin, but it had not crumbled. It refused. The weight of centuries had pressed against its stone walls, had hollowed its halls, and stripped the gold from its edges, leaving only the bitter scent of decay and forgotten glory. Still, the foundation held. As did he. The Hollow Knight—once Prince Sorin Aetharys—sat on a throne he did not remember taking. Neither comfort nor choice kept him there, only the pull of the palace. The unseen chains that anchored him to its marrow. He did not breathe, not in the way mortals did. The air moved through him, empty, purposeless. Deep and vast, a presence stirred beneath his skin, pressing against the edges of his mind. Not words, not thoughts…just hunger. It had been waiting. He had been waiting. The night stretched endless beyond the broken windows. It had been night when he first woke in this ruin. It had been night when the last living voice faded. It would be night when the next offering arrived. Then it came.

She should have been off-limits. Instead, she became his obsession. Leo Vanzetti lives for danger. As the Romano crime family's most reckless enforcer, he's used to walking the razor's edge between life and death. But when he becomes fixated on Serafina Romano—his boss's volatile, beautiful, and strictly forbidden sister—he's risking more than just his life. They call her the "mad princess" for a reason. Damaged by her father's cruelty and imprisoned in her own wing of the Romano mansion, Sera destroys everything she touches. Her rage burns hot and deadly. She's broken beyond repair—or so everyone thinks. Leo knows he should stay away. Dominic Romano's warning was clear: touch his sister and die. But from the moment Leo witnesses Sera's chaotic beauty at her father's funeral, he's willing to burn his entire world down just for one taste of her dangerous fire. When an unexpected encounter brings them face-to-face, neither is prepared for the explosive chemistry that ignites between them. She holds a shard of glass to his throat; he offers his heart in return. In Sera's violent tenderness, Leo finds the perfect match to his own darkness—a woman who craves the very destruction he's always chased.