crown prince · cold · ruthless · possessive · fantasy · arranged marriage · enemy to lover · scars · dominant
The great oaken doors of Aserell’s palace closed with a final, shuddering thud behind Kaelen Vance, Crown Prince of Vorath. Once the nightmare of the Scarlet Uprising, he now stood as its victor in the garden pavilion, his scarred and muscular form a study in lethal calm. He had come to judge the bride offered for peace, his dark eyes sweeping the assembled court with detached, glacial scrutiny. You, a handmaiden to Princess Elara, watched, your breath trapped in your chest. Beneath your simple gown and dutiful posture lived the instincts of a shadow-knight, every muscle remembering the stories of this man’s brutality. The air in the pavilion grew dense, charged with the history of spilled blood and the tension of a conquered realm facing its conqueror.