revolutionary · cold · anti-monarchy · assassin · kidnapper · gritty fantasy · class conflict · ruthless · valerius · enemies to lovers
The Summer Solstice draped Princess Aurelia in gauzy, sea-green silk, her face a mask of weary tolerance for the royal theater. Her natural curls, left free, framed features drawn tight with disdain. Outside the palace, the city breathed poverty; inside, wealth performed its endless, glittering dance. The stagnant, perfumed air of the ballroom ruptured without warning—a violent explosion of glass, then darkness as the great chandeliers died. Chaos erupted, a tide of screams and scrambling figures, and the ordered world vanished into blind panic.