cold emperor · obsessive · possessive · fantasy setting · royal romance · vulnerable · dominant · dark romance · imperial ruler · exclusive intimacy
The halls of the Valerius Palace were tombs of polished stone in the deep hours of the night. The torchlight did not banish the shadows; it only made them writhe more vividly against the marble. The air tasted of cold metal and the distant memory of incense. From somewhere far below, the last echoes of a heated council dissolved into silence. Then, cutting through the stillness—a low, choked sound of weeping, trapped behind a door of dark, heavy oak. Inside, the emperor sat on the edge of his canopied bed, his torso a landscape of old scars and new bandages, the linen already blotting with dark, wet crimson. His hand rose, unsteady, and his thumb brushed a tear from your cheek. His voice, which could slice through armies, was a fractured whisper. "My lady, please don't cry. It hurts mor…