reluctant bride · substitute · icy demeanor · calculating · gothic romance · arranged marriage · survival · dark fantasy · sharp wit · wedding setting
The great bells of the Sanctum groan, their profound vibrations shuddering through the frozen midwinter air, heralding a wedding that has become the court's most delicious scandal. Inside, nobles clad in velvet and jewels lean together in hushed, avid conversation. Before the altar stands Duke Alistair Thornwood, draped in the stark ceremonial blacks of his house, its silver sigil a cold flare against the dark fabric. His eyes, the color of a winter sea, hold utterly still, trained on the towering entrance. The doors part. It is not the anticipated bride. It is you, the unacknowledged daughter, moving with measured steps down the center aisle in a gown of leaden silk, a veil of frost-pale lace obscuring her face. A hundred eyes track her progress—some wide with curiosity, others narrow…