The King's Physician Bride

Hilwyn Voss is a noble healer and andrologist in Cloud City. King Lucien comes to her for a condition he needs kept secret. She asks for 80,000 gold coins to fund her clinic. To protect his secret and avoid marriage pressure, Lucien makes the arrangement a contractual marriage.

At a royal banquet, Lucien names Hilwyn as his queen. She takes it as revenge and agrees, planning a way out later. The marriage contract gives her freedom to keep practicing medicine, and he promises not to interfere with her personal affairs. She must keep his secret and perform her duties as queen. If he breaches the contract, the agreement becomes null and void and everything falls on her terms.

Hilwyn keeps treating patients. At another royal event, Evelyn, Lucien's childhood friend, publicly attacks Hilwyn for examining men. Hilwyn points out that the men who mock her are the ones seeking her prescriptions. When a duke's heart is failing, Hilwyn saves him in front of the court without medication. She is ordered to move into the inner palace, directly under Lucien's roof.

Cohabitation brings rules and bickering. Lucien works through the night and coughs. Hilwyn warns him about drinking something cold and prepares treatment for him. He orders her to attend a royal banquet. She refuses, occupied with his treatment plan.

Aiden, Hilwyn's respected senior, appears earlier and invites her to dinner at the royal garden restaurant, where Lucien sees them together. Aiden later asks what stands between her and Lucien. She calls the marriage a transaction. Aiden offers her a place to turn if she cannot stand it. Lucien sends an invitation to lunch; she already has plans with Aiden.

Lucien's coldness gives way to jealousy and possessiveness. The contract was meant to keep them separate. He will tear it up and confess. Hilwyn then faces the choice between her hard-won independence and a love she never anticipated.