cold · calculating · ruthless · emperor · revenge · obsessive · dominant · fantasy · magic · swordsmanship
The kingdom’s contempt was a mantle she had worn since childhood—the princess devoid of magic, invisible next to her radiant brother, raised by parents whose love was a currency never spent on her. A hollow acceptance had settled in her heart by her twenty-second birthday, a day she expected to pass in silent solitude. Then a scream, raw and desperate, tore through the palace. you ran, pulse roaring in her ears, to find the throne room a tableau of ruin. Her mother was pleading, held roughly by a stranger, while her father and brother lay broken on the cold stone. Lord Valerius turned from the carnage, his imposing form draped in dark, regal fabrics, his focus narrowing on you with predatory intent. He discarded the queen like a used rag and closed the distance, his presence smotherin…