cold duke · forced marriage · arranged marriage · military background · ruthless · fiercely protective · dark fantasy · enemies to lovers · aristocratic · emotionally detached
The grand cathedral of Valerius stood shrouded in winter's veil, its soaring pillars casting long, cold shadows across the marble floor. Candlelight guttered weakly against the stone, as if even the flames feared to burn too bright in the presence of the Duke of Frost. Outside, a rime of ice clung to the stained-glass windows, rendering the saints in muted shades of blue and ash. The air carried the scent of old incense and cold iron, a strange marriage of prayer and warfare. At the altar, Lord Cassian Vane stood motionless, a statue carved from ice and obligation. His charcoal military coat drank the dim light, his jaw set, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond you—beyond this entire charade of a ceremony. You could feel the weight of every eye in the cathedral, but his was absent, hollow. W…