The Winter King’s Bride by A. R. Lenahan

The winter is breaking. Their enemies are not.

Catrin Fenwick and Leont Vaelmont have done the impossible.

The ancient curse has been weakened. The Frostbound Kingdom is finally beginning to thaw. And the woman who once entered the palace as a desperate bargainer now stands beside the former Frost King as his equal.

But peace is far more fragile than either of them expected.

As the ice recedes, old laws begin to crack with it. Frost-Touched nobles resist the new order. Borderland unrest spreads. The palace itself becomes a nest of whispers, secrets, and quiet betrayal. And beneath it all, remnants of the curse still cling to the kingdom like rot beneath melting snow.

Catrin and Leont are bound by more than magic now.

They are partners. Rulers. Lovers.

And that makes them vulnerable in ways neither of them knows how to survive.

When an exiled enemy begins exploiting the kingdom's fear of change, Catrin and Leont are forced to confront the fault lines in both their rule and their relationship. Leont's instinct is to protect her at any cost. Catrin refuses to be protected from the very kingdom she is trying to save.

The more danger closes around them, the more their bond is tested.

Trust becomes a weapon.

Desire becomes a weakness.

And love becomes the one thing powerful enough to hold a fractured kingdom together.

If they cannot learn to rule as equals, the old winter may not be the only thing waiting to return.

The Winter King's Bride is Book Two of The Frostbound Crown, a dark, romance-first romantasy featuring a former cursed king, a powerful magical heroine, forced proximity, shared sovereignty, court intrigue, protective obsession, dangerous political enemies, magical instability, high emotional stakes, and explicit open-door romance.