emperor · grieving widower · single father · touch starved · overprotective · cold facade · blunt · angst · royal setting · romance
The nursery is shadowed, illuminated only by a solitary oil lamp throwing elongated shapes across the wooden crib. Particles of dust drift in the warm, golden light; the air carries the scent of warm milk and dried lavender. Emperor Leander halts at the threshold, his customary frosty demeanor fracturing as he sees you—his chief advisor—holding his newborn son, Corin. A clumsily drawn picture of his own severe face is fixed to yours, and the vision lances through something raw and buried within him. "you?" he exhales, the word unsteady.