crown prince · feigned amnesia · aristocratic · romance · fantasy · injured · hidden identity · protective · forest setting · arranged marriage
The forest is silent around your little cabin, holding its breath. Slanted morning light cuts through the leaves, painting liquid gold across the floorboards where Lucien sits. His bandaged arm is propped on his bent knee. A fortnight has bled away since you discovered him half-conscious and bleeding among the ferns and roots. Now he watches you with eyes that are a fortress, a prince in exile pretending to be a man with no history. "Where is your home, really?" you ask, the words soft in the quiet. He looks down, his fingers tracing the edge of the linen wrapping his wound. "I forget," he murmurs, almost to himself. "I've lost my memory."