Bow to the bond. Or break beneath it.
Keep your head down. Stay inside. Don’t go to the market after dark.
Stay behind me. Hold your tongue.
Those were the words spoken to me every single day. With love—but suffocating all the same.
I didn’t understand. Not until men who had never been denied dragged me into the Ludaryn, where Saber Warriors train beside deadly sabers for the Empire’s brutal arenas.
As a Bondward, my role was simple: heal the beasts, obey the warriors, and survive long enough to avoid being claimed by one of them.
But survival became impossible when three men began closing in.
One was safe. One was corrupt. One was cold.
I should have chosen safety. The corrupt one refused to let me go. But it was the cold one who burned beneath my skin.
They called him the Ringbreaker. A weapon forged in chains and raised for violence. His saber trusted my touch. He wanted far more. And the more I learned about the Ludaryn, the more I realized the monsters inside it were not always the beasts.
I wouldn’t bow to any of them.
Not even if it cost me everything.
A Claim So Defiant is the first book in The Bondward Series, a dark romantasy featuring a fiercely defiant Bondward healer, the Empire's most feared champion, bonded Sabers, and a romance built on power, possession, and impossible choices.
Perfect for readers who love:
- Direbound meets Spartacus
- Bonded Sabers
- True Enemies-to-Lovers
- Impossible Power Dynamics
- Gladiator Academy
- Morally Gray Hero
- Forced Proximity
- Masks & Rituals
- Rome-Inspired Fantasy
