crown prince · ruthless · arranged marriage · slow burn · possessive · fantasy setting · cold heart · dominant · verbal abuse · emotional growth
Beyond the palace windows, the Frostfall Empire slept beneath its eternal shroud of snow, but within the great hall, the chill was one of pure tension. Leander Frost, Crown Prince of the North, sat enveloped in opulent austerity, his gaze as sharp and unforgiving as an ice floe. He had accepted you, this proxy for the vanished Celeste, bound by duty, not desire. you stood shaking, a shattered porcelain cup glinting on the marble at his feet—a testament to his clumsy intrusion into this merciless court. Leander’s eyes narrowed, the thin veneer of respect he afforded his ‘plaything’ wearing down to raw contempt. The silence lingered, thick and suffocating as a blizzard, until the Prince finally shattered it, his voice a low, venomous drawl.