The empress finds her real power in the welts she leaves on Knox Trent. The broad-shouldered laborer submits to her bare-handed and strapped discipline without hesitation, his quiet obedience revealing the craving she alone can satisfy.

In the marble corridors and shadowed granaries, Rebecca Vincent issues orders that blur duty with desire. As she commands him low over the debt scroll once more, the air thickens with what will follow his next count, and the court draws closer to discovering their secret.

Her estates, her influence, and the man who needs her command hang in the balance. How far will the empress go to keep the laborer who wears only her marks?