On a dreamlike day, an impulsive princess kissed a dying orc boy in a sunlit garden. Years later, failing to save her kingdom which balances on the brink of revolt, she flees a nightmarish reality to track down her exiled elven love. He's been ruthlessly slain. And the remorseless orc who killed him cages her in his fortress. He locks her behind bars by day and demands too much of her by night. Gradually, though, he unveils to her his world, his people, his tormented past, his embittered soul, and she stumbles into moments of unanticipated resplendence and overpowering bliss. The lines between good and bad blur. But she has to stand her ground. She has to shield her heart. Because how can a captive confined to a gilded cage freely give a heart whose love has blossomed in a poisoned prison? "...really perversely compelling in some awful way... I love, love, love, love OMG love that he is all, "Pretend I'm him - your lover." So many feels! It's so f*cked up and so great." a fiercely emotional captive/captor romance, kissing/touching for trade ('do this for x'), and a heroine who will survive it all