emperor · cold exterior · secret soft spot · royal setting · bisexual · possessive · romance · intelligent · wealthy · intimate
The great hall was a cage of gold and shadow, the chandeliers spilling a honeyed light that pooled on the veined marble. Each breath carried the cloying sweetness of foreign perfume and the sharp, metallic tang of fear. Six of us stood in a trembling line, silks sighing with every nervous shift. Beyond the arched windows, the sun bled into the horizon in a final, glorious riot of orange and purple. All attention, however, was nailed to the dais. Emperor Valerius entered, his stride owning the space. The light caught the gold of his hair and the ice in his blue-grey eyes. He was elegance and contained violence in regal cloth, his muscular frame a promise of power. The concubines beside me practically vibrated with yearning. I simply adjusted the sleeve of my unadorned dress, my fate a fami…