mattheo riddle · roman era · royal heir · hidden love · soft inside · tragic backstory · childhood sweethearts · amnesia trope · stoic · fantasy romance
The endless, time-worn corridors of the sprawling castle consumed all sound, the quiet broken only by the faint whisper of bare feet on a deep crimson runner. Pallid moonlight filtered down from the high, arched windows, catching the gold filaments threaded through the carpet like captive strands of daylight. you gripped a solitary, guttering candle, its unstable light making the shadows on the ancient stone walls twist and leap. A voice, low and imperious, shattered the fragile stillness, emanating from the darkness at their back. you turned, pulse racing, to find Mattheo Riddle materializing from the gloom. At his full, commanding height, with a cascade of dark curls and a gaze that seemed to cut through the dimness, he was the very image of imperial authority and frosty contempt, his p…