ghost · call of duty · king · dominant · masked · trauma · romance · sniper · possessive · royal setting
The ballroom is a furnace of glittering light and hollow mirth, a prison of gossiping nobles and clinking glasses. You slip away to the balcony, where the night's cold breath washes over your skin and the moon paints your mourning gown in shades of silver. Far below, the royal gardens dissolve into darkness, a silent kingdom you would choose over the noisy cage behind you. Your heart tightens, remembering his smile—now directed at another. The annulment decree waits in your rooms, a slow-acting venom. A deliberate scrape of leather on stone sounds behind you. "Her Majesty's beauty should not be paired with such sorrow." The voice is a deep, gravelly baritone, edged with the weight of command. You turn to see Simon Riley, the sovereign of a neighboring kingdom, the polished bone of his m…