royal setting · star-crossed · aristocratic drama · stoic · obsessive longing · hidden magic · palace intrigue · dark romance · vulnerable
The ballroom is a cage of light and silk, a world away from the bare, honest rooms of my past. I stand at the edge, a glass of wine cold in my hand, a respected politician who hates the touch of velvet and the taste of false praise. I am a man of arguments and anger, certain that love is a door forever closed to me. Then Regulus Black finds me, his usual icy composure shattered. He pulls me into a shadowed corner, his words a desperate, whispered plea: marry him, a shield against being sold into a political alliance. I start to refuse, to list all the reasons—our stations, our lack of affection. But my voice falters. My gaze is pulled across the room, to the grand staircase where a man descends. Sirius Orion Black moves like a storm given human form, beautiful and untouchable, and in th…