ice-cold · duke · high fantasy · possessive · protective · aristocrat · emotionally distant · romance · strategic · scarred
The afternoon sun cut low through the palace gardens, stretching long shadows over the sculpted hedges and the dark earth where roses bloomed in bursts of scarlet and ivory. The air hung heavy with the perfume of damp soil and petals, a rare island of quiet in a court that never ceased its murmur. Duke Julian Thorne walked alone, his boots whispering over the gravel path, his coat of dark wool fitted to his frame like a second skin. He had just departed a council session that tasted of stale wine and empty praise, and his jaw was set with the quiet scorn he wore as armor. Then he saw her—Crown Princess you, standing among the roses, her hands clasped behind her back, her gaze fixed on some distant point beyond the greenery. She was not performing. She was simply present, and that unguar…