Chapter 1

I remember the man I used to call Dusty. For two years, he was my husband, a stablehand my father forced me to marry, and I made his life a living hell. I never imagined that the dirt-covered man I despised was actually Finn, the long-lost Crown Prince of the empire.

The same man who now stood before me, cold and unforgiving, the father of the child I carried in secret. It all started with a mistake, a web of fate I could never have predicted.

My father, Mr. Hayes, had built a merchant empire from nothing, making our family one of the wealthiest in the capital, but wealth could not buy us a title. He arranged my marriage to the son of a high-ranking official, a match that would have secured our social standing. But on the way to the engagement ceremony, my carriage broke down.

It was Finn, a simple stablehand from a nearby inn, who fixed the wheel. My father, always a believer in signs and omens, saw this as a twist of fate. He canceled my prestigious engagement and, in a move that shocked everyone, declared I would marry the stablehand. I was horrified.

I was Scarlett Hayes, the most beautiful woman in the city, and I was being shackled to a man who smelled of horses and dirt. I begged, I screamed, I cried, but my father' s mind was made up. So I married him, and I promised myself I would make him regret it every single day.

I refused to call him by his name, instead giving him the nickname "Dusty." I made him sleep on the floor, eat leftovers in the kitchen, and perform the most demeaning chores for my amusement. I would parade him in front of my friends, pointing out the grime under his fingernails and mocking his silent obedience.

He never once complained, his face a mask of stoicism that only enraged me more. He endured every insult, every act of cruelty, with a quiet dignity I couldn't understand.

Then came the night that changed everything. I was cornered by a group of drunken nobles at a banquet, their hands grabbing at me, their leering faces a nightmare. Suddenly, Finn was there. He moved with a speed and force I had never seen, dispatching the men with brutal efficiency. He wasn't just a stablehand, he was a fighter, strong and protective. He carried me away from the scene, and for the first time, I saw something other than indifference in his eyes.

It was a flicker of concern, of possession. Back in our room, the air was thick with unspoken tension. I looked at him, really looked at him, and saw the man beneath the dirt. The anger and resentment I had harbored for two years melted away, replaced by a confusing mix of gratitude and raw attraction. That night, I didn't send him to the floor. I pulled him into my bed, and for the first time, our marriage was consummated.

In the weeks that followed, something shifted between us. I stopped calling him Dusty. I found myself watching him, waiting for him. The cruelty was gone, replaced by a hesitant curiosity.

Then the morning sickness started. Dr. Miller confirmed it, I was pregnant. A strange sort of joy filled me, a feeling I never expected. I was going to have a child with Finn. I decided to tell him, to finally try and build a real life with him. I found him in the garden, and I was about to speak, to share the news that would change our lives forever, when a procession of royal guards stormed into our home. They bowed low, not to me or my father, but to Finn.

"Your Highness," their leader said, "The Emperor and Empress have found you. It is time to return to the palace." My world tilted on its axis. Dusty, my stablehand husband, was the Crown Prince. The man I had tormented was the future ruler of the empire.

The man who returned to the palace was not the quiet stablehand I knew. He was Prince Finn, a figure of immense power and authority. The warmth I had started to feel from him vanished, replaced by an icy wall of formality. He looked at me as if I were a stranger, a distasteful memory from a life he was eager to forget.

He announced his official engagement to Lady Eleanor, a woman of perfect breeding and grace. When I tried to speak to him alone, to tell him about our baby, he cut me off. "That part of my life is over," he said, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"We will have our marriage annulled. I want nothing more to do with you." The words shattered my heart. I fled, unable to bear the public humiliation and his cold rejection. I hid myself away, determined to raise my child alone.

My quiet life was destroyed a few months later. News came that my father, Mr. Hayes, had been arrested. He was framed for treason, accused of conspiring against the crown.

The charges were absurd, a blatant political attack orchestrated by someone with immense power. He was thrown into the imperial prison, and a death sentence loomed over his head. My mother was a wreck, and my younger brother, Liam, paced the house like a caged animal, talking wildly of breaking our father out of prison. We were powerless. Our wealth was meaningless against the might of the state.

My mother, her face stained with tears, came to me, her hands trembling as she clutched mine. "Scarlett, you must go to him," she pleaded.

"You are still his wife, legally. He is the only one who can save your father." The thought of facing Finn again made me physically ill. He hated me. He had cast me aside without a second thought for me or our unborn child. How could I possibly ask him for help? But looking at my mother's devastated face, thinking of my father wasting away in a cold cell, I knew I had no other choice.

Swallowing my pride and my pain, I went to the royal palace. I stood before the imposing gates, my heart pounding in my chest. I was a commoner asking for an audience with the Crown Prince, the man I had once ordered to scrub floors.

When I was finally led into his presence, he was sitting behind a massive desk in a lavishly decorated office, looking every bit the prince he was. He didn't look up when I entered. "What do you want?" he asked, his voice dripping with contempt. He looked at me then, his eyes sweeping over my simple dress and my slightly rounded belly. "Have you come for money? I can arrange a settlement. Name your price." His words were a slap in the face.

I knelt before him, the cold marble floor a shock against my knees. "Your Highness," I began, my voice shaking. "I haven't come for myself. My father... he's been framed. He's innocent. I beg you, please help him." As I spoke, my emotions overwhelmed me. I stumbled forward, losing my balance, and pitched directly into his arms.

For a moment, I was pressed against his chest, the familiar scent of him filling my senses, a scent I hadn't realized I missed. His body was rigid, unyielding. He pushed me away as if I were something vile. I scrambled back to my knees, tears streaming down my face. "Please, Finn. I'll do anything. Please save my father."

He looked down at me, a cruel, mocking smile playing on his lips. "Anything?" he repeated slowly, savoring the word. His gaze was predatory, sending a shiver of fear down my spine. "Very well, Scarlett. You want my help?" He stood up and walked around the desk, stopping right in front of me. He leaned down, his face inches from mine.

"You will come with me. And you will prove just how desperate you are." He grabbed my arm, his grip like iron, and pulled me to my feet. He dragged me out of the office and through the winding corridors of the palace, his destination a place I feared would be the stage for my ultimate humiliation.