After I Left My Down-and-Out Ex-Husband, He Came Looking for Me

[10,000 words already written]

As the beloved daughter of a down-and-out earl, the lazy and pleasure-loving Cynthia realized early on that the easiest way to live well was to marry a handsome, powerful, high-ranking Alpha.

So after enrolling at the Royal Academy, she set her sights on a target and quickly got close to the empire's only prince, Isaac Caesar.

Though Isaac had a fearsome reputation and was solitary and volatile, he fell in love with her at first sight and doted on her without restraint.

She'd leapt up the social ladder and was about to become the empire's most esteemed princess consort.

But on a mission just before their engagement, Prince Isaac Caesar was gravely injured. He became unable to sense pheromones, a useless invalid, and was accused of colluding with the rebels, stripped of his post, and investigated.

With everything falling apart, Cynthia acted decisively and broke up with him.

*

Two years later, Isaac Caesar returned to the capital from the frontier planet where he'd been exiled, carrying the rebel leader's head. He was more powerful than ever.

But Cynthia, the former fiancée who had abandoned him, was about to marry Isaac's younger brother.

Everyone guessed Isaac couldn't let the betrayal go and would take savage revenge on Cynthia.

And it certainly seemed that way...

"What a beautiful bride."

Inside the fitting room, he pinned her in front of the mirror. Ignoring her trembling, he ran his fingers over the intricate embroidery on her wedding dress and pressed his lips to the fragrant nape of her neck.

"Have you figured out how you'll atone? My Cynthia?"

In the cramped space, his beastlike gaze locked onto the woman who should have been his bride.

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