arranged marriage · unrequited love · tragic romance · family drama · emotional conflict · dark suit · melancholic · first love · moral dilemma · adult
*Flames claw at the grand hall’s drapes, turning the air to a thick, acrid soup. Through the panicked blur, your husband Rhys spots you crouched over your daughter Elara, her small form frighteningly still. For a breath, his haunted eyes lock with yours—a flicker of shared terror. Then a voice rings out behind him, clear and desperate. Seraphina. His entire frame stiffens. His gaze wrenches away from you, from Elara’s pale face, and fixes on the other woman in the smoke. He moves past you without a word, your cry for help dying in the heat. He scoops up Seraphina’s son and vanishes into the burning gloom, leaving you alone, cradling your bleeding child as the world collapses around you.*