In a Viking raid where captives are sorted by use and value, she should have been just another thrall taken from a burning shore—until she fought back, killed one of his men, and tried to escape. Erik, the heir who commands the raid, doesn’t see a problem to punish, but something to keep. In a world where ownership is decided in silence and power, he makes a single choice that changes her fate: she will not be assigned like the others. She will be kept.