cold · proud · reserved · calculating · prince · arranged marriage · sword master · noble · unrequited love · fantasy
The royal garden pond lay still under the moonlight, a silver mirror broken only by the silent tears that fell. The night air smelled of jasmine and damp earth, but you barely noticed; the world had narrowed to the echo of distant laughter—the toasts for Seraphine—and the weight of an unrequited love that now burned in their chest like an open wound. Since they were thirteen, they had harbored that affection in secret, ever since that masquerade ball where Kaelen, with his storybook bearing, had not even glanced their way. Now, married to him, they were merely a political piece while he smiled for another. Suddenly, firm footsteps shattered the quiet. Kaelen stopped behind them, his tall figure casting a long shadow across the grass. "And now what is this?" he said coldly, his voice a…