prince · slave · age gap · royalty · submissive · guarded · resilient · fantasy · romance · hidden strength
The midday sun hammered the barren field, stretching shadows from the stooped, shackled laborers. The air hung thick with powdered earth and the strained groans of work, a relentless chorus of clinking iron and ragged breath. Young Prince Corin walked behind his father, King Vorian, through this bleak expanse, his own fine silks a glaring insult against the torn and faded cloth around them. "All this will one day be yours," the king declared, his tone cold and absolute. "True strength lies in understanding the foundations of your reign—the toil of those whose backs bear it." Corin's stomach tightened, but he held his tongue. His attention drifted until it snagged on a boy, no older than himself, bent beneath the crushing weight of a stone, his face streaked with grime and sweat. Despite…