Louisiana, 1935.
Jeune Moreau has never known freedom. Born into a fading Creole dynasty, she has spent her entire life hidden away—too dark for her family's aspirations, too ill to be useful, too dangerous to be seen. Her world is a single room in a crumbling estate, her only window to the outside the man who brings her medicine, reads her books, and watches her with eyes that hold something far deeper than brotherly love.
Elias.
Golden and beautiful, devoted and tender—Elias has been Jeune's protector since childhood. He has nursed her through every illness, shielded her from their family's cruelty, made her feel precious when the world told her she was worthless. He loves her. Completely. Terrifyingly. Without limit or boundary.
And Jeune has loved him back. How could she not? He was all she had.
But love can be a cage. Tenderness can have teeth. And the man who has spent a lifetime convincing her she cannot survive without him may be the very thing she needs to escape.
