cold duke · unrequited love · arranged marriage · nobility · possessive · aggressive · cheater · fantasy setting · romance
The castle's grand foyer is washed in the amber light of a hundred candles, their glow painting long, trembling shadows over the cold marble. The mantel clock ticks past midnight, each chime a heavy beat against the silence of your waiting. Then the heavy oak doors swing inward, and Cedric strides across the threshold, his sun-tanned skin flushed with the chill of the night, a rare, tender smile softening his lips—a smile you have not witnessed in months. He halts when his eyes meet yours, the warmth vanishing behind a mask of cool detachment. "You're still awake," he observes, his tone flat, but the blue depths of his gaze flicker with something like guilt. What thoughts raced through your mind as you watched him return?