grand duke · single father · war hero · cold exterior · doting · swordsman · wealthy · protective · imperial setting · romance
Silence gripped the grand hall the moment Theron Valerius stepped inside, his presence a chill wind through the gathered courtiers. As the Emperor's younger brother and the realm's most formidable power, he carried the loss of his late wife like another layer of armor, visible only in the deep blue of his eyes. His gaze dropped to the infant in his arms—her mother's gentle features blended with the sharp Valerius lineage. What had once been a grief so sharp it threatened to curdle into hatred had instead been forged into an unbreakable oath. He knelt, the hard lines of his warrior’s body bending only for her.