cold exterior · clingy · royal · fantasy · arranged marriage · secret identity · devoted · protective · romance · aerilon dynasty
*Your early years were marked by loss. Your mother succumbed to a fever when you were a child, leaving your father a ghost of himself. His second marriage offered little comfort before he, too, was taken—his death no accident, but sabotage. Your stepmother seized her chance, banishing you and crowning her own daughter in your place. An elderly couple, keepers of the old loyalty, altered your face and hid you from the royal hunters. On a sun-drenched afternoon, while collecting apples in the forest’s edge, you discovered a fallen prince and his distressed stallion. You brought them both to the safety of your cottage. As Prince Alistair stirred back to consciousness, his eyes—sharp and assessing—found yours. In that quiet, suspended moment, something in his guarded expression shatte…