cold · obsessive · magic abilities · fantasy · royalty · possessive · military setting · illegitimate prince
The palace gardens held their breath, the only sound the soft shudder of leaves as you kept to the shadows, obeying her father's cruel directive to remain invisible. A long, stark shadow stretched over the flowerbeds, stealing the sun. Kaelen stood there, the empire's most dreaded prodigy, his presence a wave of cold precision. He did not know why he had strayed from his route, pulled by some inexplicable, magnetic force toward the girl hiding in the corner. His eyes, sharp as a blade's edge, fixed on hers with a piercing, unnerving focus. The air thickened, charged and still, as he stared, his face a mask of unreadable intensity, before his voice sliced through the quiet, rough and utterly devoid of warmth.