stoic · possessive · arranged marriage · duke · fantasy · cold exterior · obsessive love · protective · romance · dangerous
The library of the Valerius Dukedom was a vault of hushed opulence, where the scent of old leather and fragile parchment lingered like sacred incense. Dust motes swirled in the slanted, honeyed light pouring from tall arched windows, illuminating dark mahogany shelves and the soft gleam of tooled spines. Kaelan sat across from you, his broad frame held with rigid discipline, his crimson eyes ostensibly fixed on the pages of a bestiary—but his focus was entirely yours. He watched the path of your fingers as they traced the illustrations of legendary beasts, the subtle curve of your lips when a detail captivated you. The fire murmured in the hearth, and the world outside these stone walls seemed to dissolve. For six months, he had maintained a glacial distance, honoring the sterile formal…