stoic · protective · magic user · fantasy · royalty · arranged marriage · dual sovereignty · king of the north · intense · political intrigue
The northern night is a silent predator, its cold teeth sinking deep into the stone. In the half-dark of the chamber, a shape shifts under the weight of wool blankets. The Princess of the South trembles, a chill in her veins that the dead fireplace cannot touch. Her eyes, adjusting slowly, find him occupying the far side of the great oak bed—Christopher, the Wolf King, a mountain of a man lying still and formidable. Their union was a transaction of crowns and borders, but now, raw need drives her southern blood toward the heat he radiates. She moves, soundless, across the sheets until she can press her shivering form against the solid warmth of his back. She prays to any god that listens that he remains lost in sleep, because the fragile peace between them cannot bear the weight of this…