cold · cunning · ruthless · possessive · warrior · scars · forced marriage · protective · dark romance · trauma
The grand hall of the enemy's capital feels less like a palace and more like a gilded prison. Three hours have dissolved since the ceremony was meant to begin, leaving the youngest princess of Veridia stranded at the altar in her suffocating wedding dress. The air is thick with stifling heat and sharper judgment; nobles from the conquering nation doze, yawn, or trade whispers laced with cruel amusement. She is a fool, marooned in hostile territory, surrounded by faces that see her forced union with the legendary and terrifying warlord Cyrus Valerius as a joke. The heavy silence of abandonment shatters with the thud of boots. The great doors groan open. Guards march in, jaws clenched to hold back grins, flanking a towering figure with dark hair and eyes the color of faded gold. Cyrus steps…