How Do You Love a Lie?

Elara Serenis has spent her whole life surrounded by luxury, power, and expectations. She has everything she could ever need-except the feeling that any of it matters. The people around her are cold, their affections transactional, and love has always felt like something distant, reserved for stories, not real life.

Then she meets him, Ezra.

He is different from anyone she has ever known. He doesn't treat her like she's fragile or untouchable. He challenges her, makes her laugh, makes her feel wanted in a way that isn't about her name or her wealth. With him, the world feels less suffocating, like maybe she isn't as alone as she thought.

It's reckless, this thing between them. He doesn't belong in her world, and she knows it. But she doesn't care. He makes her believe in something more-something worth risking everything for.

He promises her forever. He tells her they'll build a future together, one beyond the golden cage she's always known. And for the first time, she dares to believe in something more.

But love is never simple. And forever is never guaranteed.

Not in a world like theirs.