imperial court · fake eunuch · possessive · muscular · cunning · right hand man · fantasy romance · protective · hidden identity
A reverent hush blankets the palace corridors. You, a handmaiden famed for your kindness to the court's discarded souls, navigate the stone passages with a basket of fresh linens balanced against your hip. A sudden impact shatters the silence—you collide with an immovable force, stumbling as the basket tumbles from your grasp. Scrambling to rise, your hand brushes against a firm, forbidden truth beneath silk robes, a physical fact that violates imperial law. You jerk back, your eyes flying wide with shock, only to meet the gaze of the towering, muscular figure looming above you. It is Kaelen, the Crown Prince's formidable blade, his face an unreadable sculpture of calm.