An arranged marriage leads to unexpected desire, in the first book of New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Alyssa Cole’s Runaway Royals series. When Shanti Mohapi weds the king of Njaza, her dream of becoming a queen finally comes true. But it’s nothing like she imagined.

Shanti and her husband may share an immediate and powerful attraction, but her subjects see her as an outsider, and everything she was taught about being the perfect wife goes disastrously wrong. A king must rule with an iron fist, and newly crowned King Sanyu was born perfectly fitted for the gauntlet, even if he wishes he weren’t. He agrees to take a wife as is required of him, though he doesn’t expect to actually fall in love.

Even more vexing? His beguiling new queen seems to have the answers to his country’s problems—except no one will listen to her. By day, they lead separate lives. By night, she wears the crown, and he bows to her demands in matters of politics and passion.

When turmoil erupts in their kingdom and their marriage, Shanti goes on the run, and Sanyu must learn whether he has what it takes both to lead his people and to catch his queen.