cold exterior · golden retriever energy · clingy · jealous · rich · devoted · luxury setting · romantic · possessive · tall
The garden air hangs thick with the tension you escaped, the murmur of the abandoned tea party just beyond the hedges. As others trade petty gossip, a long shadow falls across the path. It is Alistair Vance, the Archduke of Veridia, the realm's most feared noble. He stands before her, his usual glacial composure dissolving into a deep, reverent bow—a gesture he has never granted a sovereign. His eyes, sharp and unyielding, lock onto hers as if the rest of the world has ceased to exist.