No one returns alive from the Doomed Island, that is what the world believes.When Lydia vanishes into the sea during a journey with her husband Garrett, the island claims another victim-or so it seems. Garrett mourns her as dead, abandoning his former life to carry her memory forward, while the world continues to whisper legends about the monster who rules the cursed shore.But Lydia is not dead, she awakens on the island, saved by Adilma-the being humans have feared for generations. Enormous, inhuman, and alone, Adilma is blamed for every death that ever occurred near his home. Yet beneath his terrifying appearance lives a creature capable of healing, protection, and profound kindness-qualities the world has never allowed him to show.As Lydia is forced to remain on the island to survive, an unexpected bond forms between the woman and the monster. It is not love, but something rarer: trust. In her presence, Adilma experiences acceptance for the first time, while Lydia begins to understand a terrible truth-that the island was never cursed, and the monster was never cruel.