
Introduction
The long journey and the hardships make him lose consciousness and when he wakes up he finds nothing more and nothing less... than in the Emperor's harem!
Trying to stand by her beliefs, she will be involved in a series of dangerous events, as she accidentally discovers that someone is trying to poison the emperor and his wives.
She earns the enmity of Lady Cassandra, the Emperor's first wife, who will try by all means to get rid of her.
Chapter 1
Explanatory table:
Cycle/ Cycles: equivalent to Year/Years.
Moon: Also equivalent to a month.
Solar births: equivalent to days.
Solar deaths: equivalent to nights.
Luna: destined love
Foreword:
When the prince was born, a wise man saw the Prophecy in a vision:
“The earth will tremble under the might of his feet,
the moon, the sun and the stars will turn at your command,
his enemies will tremble at his name,
His glory will cover the earth and
six moons will crown his temples…
Umara:
The intense solar rays are suffocating. Big beads of sweat run down my back. My wrists and ankles are swollen from the wounds opened by the heavy shackles. The soles of my feet are raw and burning as if a fire that never goes out is constantly feeding on them. My mouth is as dry as the desert. My skin seems to be made of sand. My long black hair has been a misshapen, smelly mess on my head for weeks.
My breathing is ragged, fatigue has not overcome me by mere divine intervention. My eyes cloud over. My mind seems to be wrapped in a fog full of mirages.
I have been living on bread and water for five days.
Perhaps you might think that for a slave of the Kurani Empire a meal of bread and water is a luxury; but what we are given for bread is just a mouthful and for water a small sip and we had been walking many miles, too many.
When we were forced to leave Sibiú, we were a group of a thousand prisoners. But to the Imperial capital, with life, we have only arrived little more than about two hundred.
Every year the Emperor draws his tribute from the nomadic tribes of the north. Usually, he takes for himself beautiful maidens, daughters of wealthy herdsmen, to be slaves to the royal palace in Tarmen, but if the nobleman has sons, they are taken for warriors of the royal guard or eunuchs.
For many years, the delivery of the tribute had been peaceful, but this time, the emissary captain Kurani and the Golden Army were in the mood for a bit of fun; and ended up massacring three of the eight nomadic tribes gathered in conclave for the annual council. This time, the elders of the tribes were discussing whether or not to sign a more permanent alliance that would protect us from the military might of the Emperor and Kurani armies. Apparently, the indecision of the leaders aroused anger and bloodlust in the imperial army. Among the decimated tribes was Find the Sindu to which I belong. After quenching their thirst for fun, the enemy army withdrew, leaving the survivors badly wounded and defenseless at the mercy of the slavers.
A tear runs down my cheek. It is true that my mother had already sold me to a Guenty merchant by the time the invaders arrived, but that does not prevent the cries and sobs of anguish of my countrymen from still resounding in my ears, having caused a great meya in my soul. Ten other women from my tribe survived the slaughter, because they had been exchanged for their fathers. Severe droughts and food shortages had driven many of the tribe's elders to the point of trading their older, marriageable daughters for food. In my case, I am not the oldest, I am the middle of three sisters, however my mother sold me for being the least graceful of the three. Now we are, the thirty prisoners who have not been sold, kneeling on the slave platform.
With erratic movements, I try to dry the trace that the tear left on my dusty face. A quick look at the small group makes me see that we are the most emaciated and weak of the prisoners.
Some are too old for arduous labour, others have fallen ill along the way, and the few young women left behind are not beautiful enough for the beauty standards of the Empire's greatest city.
Sigh, my mother and sisters were not taken captive, deep in my heart I caress the hope that they have managed to escape and I raise a prayer to our God, because otherwise... The other possibility seems extremely painful and heartbreaking.
Hours have passed... the other women of my tribe have already been sold. And that's kind of a relief. The customs of the Kurani Empire dictate that if a prisoner of war has no value or use to his captors, the slavers can dispose of him as they see fit as the slave is their commodity and this group has everything to lose. We are all bony, hungry and at worst half-dead.
If our captors feel like it, which is very likely, we may end up working in the mines. I run my hard tongue over my dry bottom lip, wincing. A life of slavery in the mines is the worst fate for a
slave. They make you work from dawn to dusk while they starve you. The women who are sold there, serve as water carriers and healers in the best of cases...
I slowly sit up on my butt, resting my chin on my bony knees. Wrapping his arms around my legs, and considering that death would be a more merciful end to me than suffering for a handful of years, which is usually what one survives in that place.
Almost always, the women in the mines end up entertaining the guards or the slaves themselves.
Five hours have passed since the slave market opened this morning and fatigue has taken over my body. Strong tremors shake me from head to toe. I'm cold, then hot, then cold again. My vision is cloudy. The voices and smells and colors of the market come to my mind as if the passers-by and shopkeepers were far away, further and further away.
The people of Tarmen who have come shopping today pass in front of the platform where we are standing and move ahead long, openly disappointed in the lack of quality of the merchandise displayed. The fat and sweaty slave trader has started to get impatient.
Several of my companions in misfortune have already fainted from hunger and thirst, and have been punished for their weakness by whipping. Now we are standing on the platform the ten that are left.
My body wobbles. In a few hours it will all be over, in a few hours my fate will be decided. I will be sent to the afterlife by the same hand that bought me with gold from the slaver who brought me here from my land or I will be taken to the quarries.
I raise a prayer to the Magnanimous, to grant me rest soon. Perhaps this feeling of emptiness and uncontrollable cold are the warning that my end is near. I struggle to stay on my feet, but my knees threaten to give out.
I close my eyes and imagine that I am with my father, running freely through the green grasses of the Orenheb oasis, I can swear that I hear the murmur of the sacred stream and the memory of the sweet and fresh water makes me swallow dry. I try to smile but my face is frozen. I can't take it anymore, I know, I've reached the end of my strength. My knees buckle under the little weight I have left. I must have fallen off the platform because the muddy ground rushes up to meet me.
An unbearable burning has taken over my back. I am pulled roughly by the shoulders and forced to support my upper body on my hands. I barely hold my head up, raising my face and I see that a strange chaos reigns around me. Here and there the finely dressed and bejeweled Kurani nobles and other citizens of the capital run in terror, I can hear the sound of horse hooves. My mind tries to make sense of this commotion, but I don't even have the strength to reason.
Near where I've fallen, a bronze-skinned warrior with fierce eyes holds a whip, which he mercilessly slashes at the fat, sweaty slaver's bare back as he is pinned to the ground by two royal guards. look at the features of the warrior because he brings the face covered with a burqa of the finest white linen. All his clothes are totally white and that makes him stand out in the filthy and muddy street.
The merchant cries out for mercy in the ancient Kurani language, but the warrior is ruthless. His long black hair gives him a wild look, but his linen clothes and sons of gold and silver make me suspect that he must be a member of the royal court.
A Kurani prince has come to rescue me. Sigh. I must be suffering from delusions, undoubtedly.
Slowly I manage to sit on the quagmire in which I am and disinterestedly contemplate how some court guards are freeing the other slaves from their shackles and chains, while they look at each other in astonishment. Then, one of the soldiers approaches me and with the heavy key frees my wrists and ankles from the sharp irons that imprisoned me. I look at the wounds on my wrists and frown. It's strange, my sores don't hurt anymore, in fact I don't feel anything anymore. Stumbling, I get to my feet and wipe the mud off my face with the backs of my hands.
The warrior coils the whip in his strong right hand. He turns around imperiously and shouts orders to his soldiers. I notice that the slaver lies unconscious on the ground, his back a horrendous sight of great wounds and blood. The other slaves are herded into a group of soldiers and begin to stream down the main street. I take a few steps to follow them, but the warrior has already mounted a mighty black stallion and before I can take three steps, the air leaves my lungs as it is ripped from the ground by iron arms around my waist and holding me back. I suddenly find myself sitting sideways, in a saddle, on the imposing horse. My forehead is level with my new captor's chin, my aching back brushing against his muscular right arm.
As he harasses his mount and we shoot off at full gallop, my strength leaves me and my eyes close again. The last thing I saw before passing out was a pair of fierce golden eyes.
Last Chapters
#41 Fate:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026#40 Prophecy:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026#39 Dunes:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026#38 Mirages:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026#37 Ambrosia:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026#36 Bitterness:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026#35 Duel to death:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026#34 Rewards:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026#33 Negociations:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026#32 Lament:
Last Updated: 1/10/2026
You Might Like 😍
The Family Books 1-3 (A Mafia romance)
The saint to my sinner. with her innocent eyes and devilish curves.
A Madonna that was meant to be admired but never touched.
Until someone took that innocence from her.
She left.
The darkness in my heart was finally complete.
I avenged her, I killed for her, but she never came back.
Until I saw her again. An angel dancing around a pole for money.
She didn’t know I owned that club. She didn’t know I was watching.
This time I won’t let her escape.
I will make her back into the girl I knew.
Whether she likes it or not.
2/ Judge and Jury- I can’t stop watching her.
I’m not even sure I want to.
Taylor Lawson, blonde, beautiful, and totally oblivious to how much dangers she’s in.
She’s also the one juror in my upcoming murder trial that hasn’t been bought.
The one who can put me behind bars for a very long time.
I know I should execute her.
After all that’s what I do.
I am the Judge.
I eliminate threats to The Family.
And Taylor is a threat.
But I don’t want to kill her.
Possessing her, making her love me seems like a much better plan for this particular Juror.
3/ Rags and Ritches-
The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
I didn't tell him to stop.
Instead, my fingers curled into his shirt, clutching the fabric as though it was my only anchor. Something in him snapped—something he had been holding back for too long. His mouth found mine in a kiss that wasn't tender, but hungry, desperate.
I gasped into him, his hand sliding up to cup my jaw, holding me as if afraid I might vanish.
"You drive me insane," he breathed against my mouth, his lips trailing to my throat. "I can't lose you, Ella. Not you."
My head fell back, a soft sound escaping me as his fingers memorized my waist. My anger melted beneath his desperation.
"James..." I whispered, more plea than protest.
His hand caught mine, fingers threading together tightly. "I'll bring him back. I swear it. Just... don't turn away from me. Please."
The word please—low, ragged, almost broken—undid me more than anything else could have.
Ella never imagined she would marry the man she had secretly loved for years in such a way.
When her brother Theo faced twenty-five years in prison for massive embezzlement, the ruthless business tycoon James Lancaster offered her a deal: marry him in exchange for her brother's freedom.
This wasn't a fairy tale proposal, but a carefully orchestrated revenge. Because in James's heart, Ella was the culprit who had killed his sister Cecilia. He wanted her to pay the price—to atone with a lifetime of suffering.
King of the Underworld
However, one fateful day, the King of the Underworld appeared before me and rescued me from the clutches of the most powerful Mafia boss's son. With his deep blue eyes fixed on mine, he spoke softly: "Sephie... short for Persephone... Queen of the Underworld. At last, I have found you." Confused by his words, I stammered out a question, “P..pardon? What does that mean?”
But he simply smiled at me and brushed my hair away from my face with gentle fingers: "You are safe now.”
Sephie, named for the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, she's quickly finding out how she's destined to fulfill her namesake's role. Adrik is the King of the Underworld, the boss of all bosses in the city he runs.
She was a seemingly normal girl, with a normal job until it all changed one night when he walked through the front door and her life changed abruptly. Now, she finds herself on the wrong side of powerful men, but under the protection of the most powerful among them.
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
A pack of their own
Bound by Fate, Freed by Choice
Her escape leads her to Alpha Rowan, the commanding leader of the Blackwood Pack, who offers shelter, protection, and an unexpected chance at a new life. But Rowan’s fierce and jealous fiancée sees Lyla as a threat, and the pack’s charming Beta is drawn to her quiet strength.
As a dangerous attraction simmers between Lyla and Rowan, they begin to unravel a dark web of secrets that implicates Kaiden and threatens both their worlds.
With her hidden power awakening, Lyla must navigate treacherous loyalties, face the alpha who shattered her, and decide: Will she follow the destiny fate forced upon her, or claim the love and strength she has chosen for herself?
Taking what she wants ( Love and Revenge )
Adrian : Her careless and don't give a fuck attitude bothered me. when it was confirmed she wasn't responsible for the accident , i let her go but truth be told she had gotten under my skin. When I saw the chance of having her i took it. i could help that I had fucked her sister months prior. her family wanted me to leave her and marry her sister but that wasn't happening and they weren't going to stop. Some of my family members decided they wanted the family business and thought they could use Rayna to get to me but little did they know , the woman I married was a fucking demon and she was out for blood, her family and mine.
I looked at her laying in my arms and couldn't help but smile. she was finally mine.
To protect what’s mine
The Deadly Mafia Princess
Her gang take the matter in their own hands, to try to save their leader from the horror of her home. What none of them know, they wasn’t her real parents, and now Ro will be sent away to live with her real family. That makes her closest members in her gang pack up and move as well. They don’t want to be far away from their leader.
Bella and Her Beast
.
Locked in her frozen tower, Bella dreamed of warmth, of touch, of freedom and of love. Cursed with the power of ice and snow, she’s spent her life alone. A secret they tried to protect the world from. Her only escape comes in the form of the books she reads. Stories of heat, desire, and the kind of love that could melt even her frostbitten heart.
Damien is the Beast. A dragon King with a temper forged in flame and a soul hollowed by duty. The world fears him. The people call him a monster. But beneath the scales and the rage lies a man who has never been touched by love.
When frost meets fire, the world shatters. She was never meant to leave her tower. He was never meant to find her. But destiny doesn’t bow to kings or care for cages and now the question burns through them both: Can Bella have her Beast? Or will the girl of snow melt in the heat of his desire?
.
"I’m keeping her."
"What?"
Before I can react, he scoops her up. Her small body fits easily in the cradle of his talons. For a split second, she looks startled, but not afraid. Her hand rests against one scaled finger, and she stares up at him with that same curious wonder, as though she’s already forgotten she was ever meant to fear me.
"Put her down," I try to command, panic threading through my thoughts. "You’ll hurt her."
"She’s ours," the beast insists, possessive and fierce. "Our snowflake."
His Empire, My Revenge
When Elena Cross wakes from a devastating car crash, she’s told her powerful husband, Adrian, never left her side. But as fragments of memory return, so does a darker truth—Adrian caused the crash that nearly killed her. Instead of exposing him, Elena hides her secret and slips back into his world with one goal: destroy him from within.
Every smile becomes a weapon, every kiss a step closer to his downfall. But Adrian isn’t the only Cross with something to hide. His younger brother, Julian, knows more than he admits—and the deeper Elena digs, the more she learns that revenge has its own price.
In a world of luxury, secrets, and betrayal, love can be the most dangerous lie of all.
Reborn To Rule: I Will Seize The Throne!
He paused, his gaze never leaving mine.
"And I don't share what's mine."
☆
I died on my son's death anniversary, betrayed by the man I'd devoted my entire life to, and the woman who stood by, smiling as I took my last breath… was my very own sister.
When I opened my eyes again, I was five years in the past—before the betrayal, before my death and before the beginning of it all.
This time, I refused to marry the man who destroyed me.
Instead, I walked straight into the arms of the only man the entire Empire feared—Crown Prince Alpha Rhaedon Ashkaar.
Rhaedon was everything Lucien wasn't.
Dangerous. Competent. Powerful.
And the perfect weapon for my revenge.
He wanted the throne. I wanted vengeance.
It should have been the perfect alliance, but revenge was never that simple.
With every step I took toward my revenge, another secret from my first life came to light. The deeper I dug, the more I realized I wasn't the only one playing this game.
And by the time I uncovered the truth...
Walking away from Rhaedon Ashkaar was no longer an option.












