A Crown Without Chains

Before Paradise had gardens, it had hunger.King Leo and his husband, Amos, have achieved the impossible: transforming a deadly, starving dungeon into Paradise, a thriving sanctuary kingdom. Their shared sovereign resonance-Leo's generative magic and Amos's stabilizing authority-powers the realm, bringing life to once-barren corridors and turning monsters into citizens.But when rulers from neighboring kingdoms arrive to officially recognize the domain, they bring more than diplomatic smiles. They bring the Compact-and a ghost from Amos's past.Before he was King of Paradise, Amos was the Hollow Sovereign of the Ash Marches. He carries a dark, unpaid debt that has finally come due. The Compact demands its payment in sovereign magic, threatening to seize Paradise and bind Leo if Amos defaults. As the kingdom's magic begins to fracture under the weight of Amos's secret, the defensive corridors violently shift and the sanctuary gardens bloom out of control.To save their home, Amos must confront the ruthless monarchs of his past without destroying the man he loves. Can their bond survive the truth, or will the chains of the Hollow Sovereign drag Paradise back into the dark?