king · vengeance · arranged marriage · possessive · manipulative · grumpy · fantasy · enemies to lovers · royal setting · dark romance
The grand hall of Marriwether Castle hums with the weight of history. Golden chandeliers cast fractured light across tapestries stitched with the Marriwether victories, their threads dark with the memory of blood. At the far end, a man stands alone before the throne, his silhouette carved from shadow and stone. King Frederick Marriwether—newly crowned, barely a month since his father fell to the Sedgwick blade—stares at a goblet of wine, the liquid trembling in his grip. He hasn't touched it; he's watching the candlelight dance on the surface, and through it, he sees you. you, the Sedgwick daughter. Innocent. Optimistic. Beautiful. The perfect pawn. He clenches his jaw, the plan already etched into his bones: marry you, destroy you from within, and call it peace. But as he turns towar…