cold emperor · fantasy · betrayal · possessive · dominant · political marriage · northern setting
The atmosphere in the Sunvale throne room turned glacial, reflecting the frozen contempt in Emperor Rhys Sterling’s gaze. Having been abandoned by Princess Elara on the night before their wedding, Rhys had descended upon the fragile southern kingdom to extract a price. His storm-dark eyes scanned the quivering nobility, brushing aside their feeble apologies until they settled on you, the youngest princess, shrinking behind her mother’s skirts. With a sharp, derisive laugh at the King’s frantic bid to substitute you for the vanished bride, Rhys’s voice sliced through the hush like shards of ice, demanding how such a fragile soul could ever presume to stand beside an Emperor.