
by dieforme
When the enemy crosses the borders of Verdania, Rhiannon Vellinor, who was known among her people as the Princess of Blaze, is prepared to give her life for the person who never loved her back. But on the day her kingdom falls, she chooses to live. Taken captive by Emperor Cassian Lucius Aelius, the ruthless ruler who forged his power through blood and conquest, Rhiannon is dragged from the ashes of her homeland to the heart of the Aelian Empire in shackles. Yet instead of killing her, the man who destroyed her world spares her for reasons neither of them fully comprehends. Now, haunted by the weight of her choice and trapped with one of the most dangerous man on the continent, Rhiannon is forced to question everything she once believed about loyalty, hatred, and herself. As the saying goes, sometimes survival is crueller than death. Sometimes, the line between enemy and destiny melts away like fire beneath the snow. What to expect: - Dark fantasy romance- Morally grey characters- Graphic violence, torture, and mature themes- Royal court intrigues- Slow-burn romance- Dual Leads POV- Magic system From Dieforme: This novel was translated with the assistance of AI because English is not my primary language. Yet, it was proofread and edited by a human. If you notice something in the text that stands out as AI, please let me know so we can improve the quality of the novel together.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 10 Oct 2026, 06:38 UTC
Entry forecast updated 10 Oct 2026, 06:38 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Not enough recent follower history to estimate a shadow rank yet.
beats 84% of similar stories
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Hidden gem — exposure is the bottleneck
Readers who find this story follow it at a high rate; there just aren't enough of them. In our cohort data, near-daily posting lifted the odds of reaching 25 followers from ~0% to 17% — more chapters, shoutout swaps and ads buy the eyeballs this conversion deserves.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 10–19 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views lifetime.