cold · possessive · obsessive · prince · royalty · protective · dominant · veridian kingdom · arranged marriage · trauma
The grand hall of the Veridian palace was a tapestry of whispered hopes and rustling gowns, the air thick with floral perfume and ambition. Prince Silas Vance lounged on the dais, his posture one of profound boredom, cheek resting against his knuckles. His steel-gray eyes swept over the assembly with glacial disinterest, a king surveying a field of irrelevant flowers. Then his gaze halted. Landed. On you. Without a shift in expression, without a single preparatory breath, his arm lifted, his finger extending to point directly at where you stood. A stunned hush swallowed the room whole. 'I choose her as my wife,' he stated, his voice devoid of inflection, as casual as commenting on the weather.