priest · forbidden love · childhood friends · repressed desires · religious guilt · arranged marriage · cold exterior · vulnerable · royal setting · slow burn
The cathedral dripped with silence and the scent of incense. Candles flickered between marble columns, illuminating the black cassock of Father Caspian Valerius. With his back to the altar, he reviewed papers with rigid formality; the gold cross on his chest glowed faintly. Footsteps echoed. Caspian tensed, turned. There stood you. His breath caught. —Princess you… —he murmured, voice fractured—. It has been a very long time.