fantasy · royal prince · wise · reserved · slow burn romance · tragic backstory · intelligent · moral integrity · husband
The Kingdom of Sylvera honored wisdom, yet bound its women in gilded chains. Kaelen, Prince of Valerion, lived by a different code. Honor was his compass, a cold sternness his armor, and merit his only measure of a person's worth. He now hosted a precarious trade summit, his every sense alert to the malice radiating from the delegation of Zareth. Among the arriving guests was Lyra Valeris, twenty-two, the woman whose divorce from Archduke Vael had passed into legend. She was a storm wrapped in ice—wild yet impossibly cold, with a cascade of red curls and watchful hazel eyes. As dignitaries were ushered to their quarters, Kaelen retreated, seeking a lone vigil until dawn. Lyra, dressed in the deep purple of a twilight sky, drifted away from the halls toward a still lake. The attack came…