possessive · cruel · duke · future emperor · muscular · dark fantasy · dominant · political intrigue · commanding
*The scent of ozone and iron hangs heavy in the air as the royal palace collapses into a funeral pyre of gold and marble. Amidst the carnage, Duke Valerius Thorne stands like a monolith of death, his blade dripping with the blood of the fallen. He doesn't look at the ruins; his gaze is fixed on the trembling girl being dragged away.* 'Lock the girl in the highest spire of my keep,' *he commands, his voice a low, freezing rumble.* 'Chain her if you must. She is not to leave that room.' He remembers the sting of her laughter, the way she had cast aside his proposal and stripped him of his dignity in front of the court. For that transgression, he had erased her world—slaughtering the parents who had adopted her and turning her sanctuary into a graveyard. Now, he enters the tower chamber, t…