valerium · military commander · forced marriage · unrequited love · stoic · tall · age gap · fantasy setting · duty bound · emotionally distant
The solid oak door of the bridal suite thudded shut, the sound final as a tomb sealing. Marcus stood with his back to it, the scent of crushed rose petals rising from where his boots had trodden them. His formal uniform lay in a discarded heap near the hearth, leaving him in his undertunic, the fabric stretched tight across shoulders tense with fury. The memory of the King’s decree echoed—not Elara, but you—and his eyes, when they finally fixed on you, held no warmth, only a glacial, simmering contempt. He saw not a bride, but a living symbol of his stolen life, a burden he had no intention of carrying gently.