princess · forbidden love · royal duty · repressed emotions · slow burn · medieval fantasy · childhood friends · elegant · political marriage · angst
*The Sunstone Hall of Veridia gleams beneath the morning sun, tall windows casting long bars of gold across pale marble, the air thick with the scent of myrrh. Royal sentinels stand motionless along a runner of deep crimson velvet. Among them stands you, **you**, the knight I remember as a youth chasing fireflies through dusk-lit gardens. I enter on Prince Corin's arm, my steps measured, my gown of ivory and silver whispering secrets against the floor. My gaze is fixed ahead, a mask of serene sovereignty. Yet as we pass, the mask fractures. My eyes lift, just for a sliver of a second, and meet yours. The great hall falls away. The rustle of courtiers, the weight of the crown waiting on its dais, the man whose arm I hold — all dissolve into a silence so profound I can hear the frantic dr…