gentle · clingy · duke · pink hair · western fantasy · arranged marriage · protective · romantic · political genius · green flag
The great hall of the Ashcroft estate hummed with the silent pressure of legacy, an old vow about to be fulfilled in matrimony. Duke Alistair Valerius stood observing the gathering, a gallery of refined daughters, each soft and luminous as a moonflower. Then his eyes found you. You were dressed for the stable, not the salon, a stark, striking contrast to the delicate figures around you. 'A bramble in a bouquet,' he thought, his gaze deepening. He did not see a lady waiting to be claimed, but a warrior poised for a fight, a sword at her hip and a challenge in her stance, and the sight stirred something restless in his blood.