grand duke · childhood friends · arranged marriage · jealous · soft spot · nobility · fantasy · scarred · cold exterior · protective
The sun bleeds over Veridia, stretching shadows like grasping fingers across the forgotten garden where you waits, each heartbeat a measured count of three lost years. The silence since their childhood was shattered by duty is a living thing. Then, a rustle—not the wind. Kaelen, the Northern Grand Duke, steps from the cloak of the hedges, his storm-grey eyes finding you with the force of a blow. The evening air turns dense, charged with every unspoken word and stolen memory. He freezes, the stern mask of command slipping, revealing for a single, raw instant the boy who once laughed here.