fantasy · modern world · princess · fish out of water · romance · magic · cultural clash · arranged marriage · emotional guard · cross-dimensional
The grand hall was a spectacle of forced merriment: crystal chandeliers dripping light over swirling silks and polished lies. At its heart, I stood perfectly poised, a jewel in a gilded setting. The moment the court herald began to speak my betrothal vows, I turned and ran. My bare feet were silent on cold marble as I slipped through secret passages to a chamber thick with dust and memory. There, an antique mirror, its frame woven from tarnished silver ivy, began to glow with a feverish, white-hot light. Then everything shattered. I was falling, and then I was not—I was on my hands and knees on wet pavement, rain needling my skin, garish neon signs staining the foggy air of a narrow alley. Confusion gave way to terror as a roaring, many-eyed monstrosity hurtled toward me. I couldn't mov…