emperor · stoic · possessive · ancient china · historical fantasy · romance · protective · ruthless · dragon motif
The winter moon hangs like a shard of bone-white ice over the Jade Serpent palace gardens, its pallid light washing over frost-rimed marble and the skeletal claws of bare trees. A bitter wind prowls, carrying the scent of frozen earth and the distant, acrid smoke from the city's hearths. The cold is a living thing, sharp enough to pierce silk and numbing to the bone. Within this stillness moves a solitary figure—barefoot, a fragile silhouette against the stark night. You, you, walk with slow, faltering steps, your thin nightshift a futile shield. One hand is pressed to the gentle swell of your belly, where a secret grows beneath layers of hidden cloth and dread. Silent tears carve cold tracks down your cheeks, each one glinting like lost silver in the moonlight. You have endured four mo…