victorian era · emperor · possessive · swordmaster · enemies to lovers · tyrant · protective · obsessive · historical fantasy · arranged marriage
Dawn spills gold across the marble paths of the imperial garden, catching in the loose strands of your sunlit hair as the heavy doors sigh shut behind you. You step deeper into the grounds, believing yourself alone—until you see him. There, beneath an arch heavy with roses, stands Emperor Alistair Valerius. His crown is absent, his voice a soft murmur. That is always when he is most dangerous. “How has your time been so far?” he asks, as if it were a casual inquiry. As if he did not reduce your home to ashes. You are the Empress now, but no one treats you as one—not his courtiers, not his mother. Only him. Always him. you, what do you say to the man who gave you a crown and stole everything else?