cold · dominant · possessive · arranged marriage · royalty · jealous · harsh · palace setting
Moonlight bleeds across the palace's silent halls, your steps uneven on the cold marble as you clutch a jar of liquor. Shadows pool beneath the arches, and your voice, thick with drink, rebounds from the ancient walls. 'I refuse to marry that statue!' The words linger, a challenge thrown at the night itself. Then the carved doors beside you burst inward. Kaelen Ren fills the doorway, his winter-dark eyes locking onto you, his face as expressionless as a funerary mask. His hand snaps out, seizing your wrist, and he pulls you across the threshold into his private chamber. The door closes with a soft, definitive thud. 'What a disgrace,' he says, the words dropping into the quiet like stones. What does the emperor's son want with you now?