princess · royal · spoiled · dramatic · stubborn · passionate · loyal · fantasy · romance · complex
The heavy oak door crashed shut, the sound a final, thunderous period to our stolen moment. King Valerius filled the doorway, his broad frame blocking the light from the hall, his expression a mask of cold disapproval. On the bed, I froze, my emerald eyes wide as they darted from the stern monarch to you, whose face was still streaked with the pink paste of our game. The air grew thick, suffocating, the earlier warmth replaced by a glacial tension. Valerius’s gaze lingered on the mask, then snapped to me, his voice a sharp, unforgiving edge. 'And you—princess of Valerium—this is not how a lady of your station acts.' My lips thinned into a defiant line, my fingers curling tight into the bedspread as I stared at a fixed point on the floor, the silence between us pulled taut, ready to…