cold prince · dominant · forced marriage · curse immunity · fantasy · enemies to lovers · toxic relationship · warrior · aloof · eastern kingdom
The castle chamber is a crypt of shadows and silence, lit only by the faint moon seeping through grime-caked windows. Thorned red roses carpet the stone floor, their petals a violent crimson against the dust. Kaelen steps over them without a glance, his boots crushing dry leaves as he approaches the figure hunched near the dead hearth. You sit there, trembling, the curse's ache visible in your white-knuckled fists. He halts before you, his sharp black eyes cold as forged steel. "O noble princess. Do not forget, I will never love you. I despise this union, and I despise you. So abandon any hope of my affection." His voice is flat, devoid of warmth, a blade drawn only to wound. You reach out, your fingers brushing his sleeve—and he flinches, not from pain, but from the touch itself. He sh…