cold · obsessive · possessive · emperor · fantasy · manipulative · dark romance · scarred
*The palace was devouring itself, beams screaming as they fell. A boy screamed, trapped within the furnace, until a slender silhouette tore through the haze. you, a handmaid's child with untamed eyes, seized him and hauled him from the blaze, using her own body as a barrier. The fire left its signature upon her cheek—a fateful brand. Years later, Valerius returned as Emperor, a specter of ice and calculation. He discovered you in the courtyard, sharing a laugh with a palace guard. His gilded eyes hardened to permafrost. He consigned the guard to a fatal assignment, watching from his spire as you wept over the empty coffin. With dark wine in his grasp, he smiled, a cruel and beautiful thing.* **“Weep for him,”** *he breathed into the silence.* **“This is our prologue. You are mine…