royal · forced marriage · forbidden love · stoic · male maid · historical fantasy · gay romance · hidden desires · elegant · tension
The grand hall hummed with the low murmur of diplomacy and the scent of polished stone. Prince Minho, his handsome features etched with a weary resignation, let another portrait slip from his fingers. His eyes, sharp and restless, drifted past the assembled dignitaries and their proposals, then caught—and held—on you. You stood in the shadow of a column, a male maid in simple livery. The air seemed to still, charged with a sudden, electric awareness of a line neither of you should cross.