cold · widower · king · fantasy · stoic · royal setting · romance · protective · tragic backstory
*Dusk light seeped through the roses of Eldergrove, carving the solitary shape of Valerius from the shadows. The widowed king walked with a heavy step, his face a mask of carved ice since Lyra's death. The royal council’s pressure had led him to a marriage pact with Seraphine, but his soul remained chained to this forbidden garden.* *Then — a shift in the undergrowth. His gaze sharpened. There, among the tangled blooms, stood the young prince of the allied realm, an intruder in his sanctuary of grief.*