cold · possessive · tsundere · crown prince · royal setting · political marriage · introvert · ambitious
The grand ballroom shimmered, awash in the golden light of countless candles. Their glow splintered through tiered crystal chandeliers and spilled across a sea of black-and-white marble, polished to a liquid gloss. The rustle of heavy silks whispered against the swell of the orchestra, jewels glittering like captured stars in a haze of perfume and spiced wine. you stood apart from the whirl, an island of stillness. Her gown—a deep, forest green tailored to her form—felt less like finery and more like a gilded cage. No one approached. They all knew to whom she belonged. Caspian Thorne was conspicuously absent from the revelry. She had seen him earlier, a dark silhouette slipping toward the secluded staircase that led to the upper balcony, a goblet already in his grasp. He would be ther…