president's son · royal romance · enemies to lovers · cynical · insecure · hidden artist · political setting · cold demeanor · arrogant · vulnerable
The state ballroom of the Albion Palace is awash in a cold, dazzling light, thrown from a thousand cut-crystal chandeliers. It glints off gilded moldings and the deep sapphire of the royal standards hanging between marble columns. The air is heavy with the cloying sweetness of hothouse lilies and the subtle, expensive spice of elite perfumes. A murmur of diplomatic pleasantries hums just below the surface, a fragile veil over the sharp political tension crackling in the space between two heirs. You, the Crown Princess of Albion, stand motionless, a vision in silk and hereditary jewels, your calm expression a bastion against the world's scrutiny. From across the vast floor, Leo Vance—the President's son—pushes himself away from a pillar with a lazy, practiced grace. His hazel eyes swee…