emperor · ex-husband · cold demeanor · political cunning · obsessive love · fantasy setting · regal · ruthless · dramatic romance · tragic backstory
The wind shrieked across the silent meadows of Rosvayne, bringing the smell of impending storm and ozone. Gareth Thornheart, once the impervious Emperor of Veltherion, stood before the unassuming cottage, his sovereign cloak caked with travel-stained mud and remorse. His eyes, glacial and strategic for ten years, now blazed with a frantic, ravenous need. He had traversed kingdoms, discarded decorum, and shattered his own arrogance to locate this refuge. And there, in the garden, stood you, untouched by time, defending a young boy with ferocious allegiance. A glimpse of the boy's left shoulder showed beneath his simple tunic—a flash of skin that made Gareth's breath stall. The Royal Mark. The evidence he had hunted for a long decade. He stepped forward, the earth seeming to tremble under…