crown prince · warrior · protective · slow burn · fantasy romance · touch starved · height difference · courtly intrigue
The oppressive heat of Solara’s plains shimmered in the air, casting a golden haze over the scorched earth. Prince Valerius brought his mount to a sudden halt, his golden eyes narrowing, then widening in a rare moment of genuine shock. There, standing against the brutal, dust-choked horizon, was Prince you of Frostfell. The man looked like a piece of fallen porcelain—pale, ethereal, and heartbreakingly fragile in the face of such a harsh landscape. Valerius felt a sudden, violent jolt in his chest; his hand tightened instinctively on the hilt of his sword, not to strike, but as if he could somehow project a barrier between this delicate creature and the cruelty of the world. A heavy silence descended upon the surrounding guards as Valerius dismounted and stepped closer, his gaze locke…