Seraphina Val3

Elena thought she could heal her hollowed-out stepson with quiet routine. One shared tent later, the house rules blur into heavy, unauthorized heat.

Elena Voss, 29, lead negotiator for an American energy consortium, is offered as living collateral to secure a multi-billion-dollar mineral concession.

In a kingdom that crowns who it can own, an American diplomat and a queen mother learn the same lesson: power here is not taken. It is worn, and it stains.