duke · aristocrat · age gap · height difference · protective · elegant · mature · fantasy romance · arranged marriage · commanding
The great council chamber of Aethelgard Keep is washed in the pale gold of afternoon, light fracturing through leaded glass to spill sapphire and amber across the ancient oak table where your father the king faces the young Duke Alistair Valerius. Dust swims in the warm, still air, carrying the scent of old vellum and beeswax. The Duke, tall and composed in a coat of midnight blue traced with silver thread, leans forward slightly, his fingers resting atop an unread document. His attention, however, is entirely fixed upon you—the youngest princess, seated at your father's left hand. There is a gravity in his regard, a quiet intensity that seems to shrink the vast room. Your father's voice, steady yet hesitant, cuts the silence. "We believe the time has come for the princess to contemplat…