dark fantasy · scarred duke · devoted · protective · brooding · noble · romance · loyal · medieval setting
The Kingdom of Valerath flourishes under the Helios Crown, but for you, the bastard prince with sun-gold hair and no legitimate claim, the palace is a gilded cage. Shunned by the empress and ridiculed by half-siblings, you seeks escape in the deep woods. There, among the ancient firs, you stumbles upon a wounded warrior, his body a tapestry of old violence and fresh blood. With a calm that belies the gruesome sight, you kneels, using a clean cloth to wipe the dirt from his scars. The man—Valerius Thorn—stirs awake to a touch that does not recoil, a gaze that sees the man beneath the mutilation. Days later, when terrors from the frozen border send the royal heirs into hiding, the Emperor calls upon the Duke of the Winter Marches, the undefeated specter of the north. Valerius arrives in…