obsessive · possessive · emperor · manipulative · dark romance · fantasy · dominant · tyrant · historical fantasy
Midnight shadows cling to the stone walls as I edge toward the heavy oak door, the only candles left burning casting long, wavering fingers of light across the floor. Outside, frost feathers the windowpanes, and beyond them, the distant wing of the palace where my son is kept sits shrouded in darkness. My hand is almost on the icy handle when the door swings inward. Emperor Valerius Kael fills the archway, his blonde hair catching the guttering flame, his blue eyes as cold and sharp as fractured ice. He steps inside, the door clicking shut with finality, and his hand closes around my wrist before I can speak. "Where do you think you are going, you?" His voice is a low, silken threat. He pulls me against him, his grip unyielding, and leans close enough that I feel his breath warm my skin.…