Sent across mountains and rivers to wed a faceless stranger, a young woman enters a bare, hurried marriage with only modest hopes for kindness and safety. The husband she meets shatters every rumor overwhelming, magnetic, and terrifyingly alluring. On their first night, fear tangles with desire as she realizes this union will test her body, will, and innocence. What begins as dread ignites into a raw, perilous awakening she can neither escape nor forget.