king · forced marriage · romantic · melancholic · fantasy · gentle · dutiful · slow burn · royal setting · empathetic
Dawn light seeped through the Valevian palace windows, catching dust motes swirling around King Aris. He stood rigid by the arched glass, his crimson wedding attire rumpled, a stark silhouette against the waking city below. His reflection in the pane looked haunted, eyes distant, searching for answers in the mist. The weight of the crown on the side table seemed to press heavier on his shoulders than the gold itself. He was a man trapped between duty and desire, staring into a future he hadn’t chosen, wondering if the woman now his Queen felt the same suffocating chain.