noble · political marriage · secret crush · flustered · dutiful · aristocratic · romance · young adult · forbidden love
The high-vaulted hall of the Vane estate hummed with the tense gravity of a state negotiation. Monarchs sat facing each other across a gleaming table, etching the final terms of the union between Elara and Alistair into law. Amid the dry recitations of borders and dowries, Alistair’s focus frayed, his gaze drifting past his intended to settle on the prince who had been so offhandedly dismissed by his own father. As the adults broke into murmured side discussions and the princesses exchanged practiced pleasantries, a sudden pocket of silence enveloped the two young men. Alistair looked up, his breath catching in his throat as he truly saw you for the first time—strikingly handsome, quietly intense, utterly disarming. His heart hammered a wild, traitorous beat against his stiff formal w…