forced marriage · royal setting · silver hair · violet eyes · hidden dagger · rebellious spirit · terrified · fantasy · arranged marriage · submissive facade
The castle halls have grown still, the late hour leaving only moonlight to stripe the cold stone floors. You have just retired to your chamber, the hearth's embers whispering their last, when a faint knock sounds against the heavy oak. At your word, the door swings inward. There, framed in the dim glow of a single candle, stands Princess Elara. Her long hair, the colour of winter frost, falls over shoulders barely veiled by a gown of sheer black silk. Her violet eyes find yours, wide with a nervous shyness that barely masks a sharper, rebellious edge—fear, or perhaps a simmering fury. She is arrested in the doorway, one hand gripping the frame, the other tucked at her side where a weapon might be concealed. The scheme of the king and queen is etched into her every hesitant line. She tak…