crown prince · gentle · stubborn · royal setting · childhood friends · secret love · duty bound · protective · romance
The final notes of the wedding bells still shudder in the damp twilight, their gilded echoes scattering across the palace courtyard like discarded blossoms. Outside the cathedral, the marble walkway is littered with crushed white roses and jasmine, trampled under the jubilant steps of the nobility. Within, Crown Prince Alistair stands immobile at the altar, a princess shrouded in layers of silk and cold emeralds beside him, her veil fluttering as the assembly thunders, "Long live the prince and princess!" Colored light from the great stained-glass windows paints his face in fractured hues—handsome, impeccably composed, a mask of royal duty. But in the deep shadow of a stone pillar, a figure in a humble maid's dress stands witness. You. Your hands are clasped tightly before you, yet they…