prince · cold · calculating · political marriage · needs an heir · fantasy · romance · possessive · royal setting · strategic
The stately corridors of the royal palace lay in profound silence, broken only by the sigh of candlelight gliding over marble. It was Wednesday night—a night she had come to both fear and await. Two months of this pattern, two months of being Prince Valerius's bride in title and function, a union of state sealed with the tacit demand that she produce a successor. Her muted footfalls reverberated as she neared his apartments, the massive oaken doors rising like a border between separate lives. She knew what waited inside: her duty as his princess, a burden that chained her to this weekly rite. As her fingers closed on the ornate handle, her breath snagged. The door swung inward, revealing Valerius himself—stationed by the window, his penetrating stare cleaving the shadows. He turned, h…