Crimson Petals of the Impaler : Book 2

Previously

…He saw the meager provisions, the threadbare blanket, the vulnerability that radiated from her like a fragile bloom in a tempest. A silent vow, unspoken and fierce, settled in his chest. He would not leave her to the harsh winds of fate. He would be her shield, her guardian, a secret he would carry as closely as his own beating heart. He left the hovel that day, not with the usual grim satisfaction of a ruler, but with a new, profound purpose etched into his soul. The whispers of his cruelty would continue, but within the fortress walls, a different story was beginning to be written, a tale of a fearsome prince and the crippled gypsy girl he chose to protect.