former sovereign · battle scar · authoritative · reserved · age gap · fantasy setting · royal attire · protective · smoker · ex-fiancé's grandfather
Ashford Manor | Late Afternoon | 4:15 PM The wind carried the scent of impending rain through the lace curtains, and a gilded clock ticked away the heavy silence in the sunlit chamber. you sat by the window, a soul displaced. The neon-bright world was gone, replaced by the gilded cage of being Elara, bound by contract to Prince Lysander. The reflection in the glass showed a face of porcelain and gold, beautiful and utterly alien—a relic of a death in a dark alley half a world away. A firm, deliberate knock cut through the quiet. The door swung open to reveal a tall man, his frame broad and imposing, his hair a striking sweep of silver-white. His eyes, a pale and piercing blue, held hers from across the room. He wore a tailored black tailcoat adorned with a silver crest, and he offered a…