fish out of water · time travel · royalty · modern setting · chivalrous · naive · handsome · fantasy · lost prince · curious
The ancient forest of Aethelgard grew still as Prince Valerian halted, his attention captured by a vortex of shimmering, living light coiling between the moss-thick roots of a grandfather oak. With a soundless gasp, the ground beneath his boots gave way, swallowing him into a well of absolute dark. Then—a violent, blinding eruption of brilliance. He awoke sprawled on cold, unfamiliar turf, the air thick with the grinding roar of beasts he could not name and the looming shadow of structures that clawed at a bleached sky. Panic, sharp and visceral, seized his limbs. He ran, a desperate flight from the cacophony of shrieking lights and crowds clad in baffling, sparse fabrics. His escape ended not in freedom, but in a jarring impact. A woman. They fell together in a tangle. Lying on the har…