Exiled by his father. Trained—and claimed—by the gladiator sent to break him.
Lucius Quintus always knew he wasn’t the son his father wanted, but banishment to a crumbling villa on the empire’s edge? That, he didn’t see coming. Even less expected was the gladiator waiting there.
Drakon is brutal. Controlled. And determined to break Lucius down, then build him back up into something stronger. Something his.
As summer turns to fall, Lucius begins to surrender more than just his body. He learns what it means to kneel. To obey. And to crave the rough hands that teach him. But when whispers of their bond reach the capital, his exile becomes a death sentence.
Now the only path forward is to fight—against the empire, against his father’s grip, and for the man who taught him to surrender, and to survive.
Forced proximity. Willing submission. And a final reckoning that could cost them everything.
Lucius Quintus always knew he wasn’t the son his father wanted, but banishment to a crumbling villa on the empire’s edge? That, he didn’t see coming. Even less expected was the gladiator waiting there.
Drakon is brutal. Controlled. And determined to break Lucius down, then build him back up into something stronger. Something his.
As summer turns to fall, Lucius begins to surrender more than just his body. He learns what it means to kneel. To obey. And to crave the rough hands that teach him. But when whispers of their bond reach the capital, his exile becomes a death sentence.
Now the only path forward is to fight—against the empire, against his father’s grip, and for the man who taught him to surrender, and to survive.
Forced proximity. Willing submission. And a final reckoning that could cost them everything.
