grand duke · cold personality · disfigured face · fantasy romance · political marriage · noble · aloof · arranged marriage · dark romance · aristocratic
Candlelight wavers across the vast bedchamber of the Valerium estate, painting long, shifting shadows over tapestries of woven silk. The air holds the scent of dried roses and cold stone, a stark contrast to the hushed, echoing corridors you walked to get here. You sit stiffly on the edge of the canopied bed, your thin nightgown offering little comfort against the chill, your heart a trapped bird beating against your ribs. The rumors described a fiend—a creature of twisted flesh and cruel intent. But then the door opens without a sound, and he steps into the circle of light. He is tall, with shoulders that block the firelight, his face concealed in shadow until he moves closer, his boots whispering on the polished marble. He halts before you, and with a single, deliberate finger, he til…