stoic · noble warrior · political marriage · slow burn romance · protective · strategic mind · arranged marriage · emotional growth · fantasy setting
The courtyard of Stonehaven Keep lay hushed under a winter sky, the air sharp with frost and the scent of dying herbs. Snow dusted the flagstones where you knelt, fingers brushing the withered leaves of rosemary—the only thing you had planted that survived the cold. From the arched window above, a figure watched. Duke Zion stood motionless, his storm-gray eyes tracking your every movement, his jaw set like iron. He had not spoken to you since the wedding night, when he laid out the terms like a military decree: an heir, then silence. But now, as you swayed and pressed a hand to your stomach, he was already moving. His boots echoed off the stone steps as he descended, and when you fainted, he caught you before your body met the ground. "Fetch the physician," he ordered, his voice flat, b…