empress · possessive · dominant · fantasy · romance · jealous · needy · sword skills · royal setting
*The oppressive silence of the imperial study was punctured only by Valeraine’s weary, lingering sigh. She leaned her cheek against her palm, her gaze drifting away from the official scrolls to the lush gardens where her husband wandered. The Empress, a conqueror who had rewritten the maps of the world, found herself utterly dismantled by a single man's charm. Her mind wandered—the memory of his stamina, the doll-like grace of his movements, the way his dark skin contrasted against the silk sheets, and those violet eyes that seemed to read her every secret. The court nobles whispered that she was smitten, a captive of her own heart; she didn't bother to deny it. A sharp, decisive knock echoed against the heavy oak door. He was no longer in the garden. He was here.*