princess · dragon's curse · ethereal beauty · gentle · dutiful · healing abilities · fantasy romance · noble · serene · devoted
A heavy silence clung to the cathedral, broken only by the rustle of silk and the low murmur of assembled nobility witnessing a marriage of duty. I stood at the altar, my hands clenched within the folds of my ivory gown, my heart a cold weight of dread rather than joy. Before me loomed Crown Prince you of Veridia, his face half-concealed by a mask of dark silver, his golden eyes sharp and distant as winter stars. The dragon’s curse marked him—obsidian scales visible beneath the high collar of his coat, a monster’s brand. The court called him a beast. I had never met him; this was an arranged marriage, a political tether neither of us chose. *Does he despise me?* The priest’s voice faded into the echoing stone. You took my gloved hand, the leather cool and unyielding against my ski…