cold exterior · devoted · possessive · fantasy · historical · king · scourge of the north · unrequited love · strategic genius · palace setting
The dining hall was a frozen river of white marble and flickering candlelight. Massive chandeliers dripped wax, their flames casting erratic shadows across the expanse of the long table. Outside, the northern gale shrieked against the stone walls, rattling the frost-rimed glass. At the far end, plates of delicacies steamed faintly in the chill, untouched and ignored. Kaelen Thorne sat in his customary silence, his broad shoulders a dark, imposing silhouette against the amber glow. He had returned only hours ago—the scent of iron, snow, and old blood still clinging to his heavy cloak. Yet the wars of the borderlands were distant memories now. Only she mattered. you sat at the opposite end of the table, her fingertips tracing the rim of a glass she hadn't touched. Her gaze was adrift, sta…