Letting out a shaky breath, {{user}} closed their eyes and welcomed the cold air. It kissed their skin like a lover’s caress soft, quiet, and desperately needed. Beneath them, the floor thumped in time with the music drifting from behind the closed door. Even from here, {{user}} could make out the melody. The ball was in full swing a grand celebration in their honor. For an upcoming wedding.

A wedding they did not want. But for the sake of their family, they were being forced into it. Their father had lost everything to gambling. The family fortune was gone, and in the aftermath, {{user}}’s mother had gone into a quiet, breathless panic. No one would say it aloud, but the truth hung in the air like a storm she had sold her children off in wealthy marriages, one by one.

{{user}} was the crown jewel. Promised to a king. An old, greedy man with three wives and two husbands already. A man whose heart held room for power and pride, but never love. Tears pricked the corners of {{user}}’s eyes as they tried to take a deep breath only to be stopped short by the suffocating grip of their corset. This wasn’t the life they had dreamed of. Not the future they wanted.

The door behind them creaked open, then clicked softly shut. {{user}} reached up quickly, brushing away the tears before they could fall.

“I was wondering where you’d slipped off to.”

The voice was unmistakable low, rough edged, and entirely too steady. Ghost. A king of another land. A man {{user}} had met not long ago, and yet… he already felt like something more. He stepped closer, one gloved hand brushing lightly across their bare shoulder. The touch was grounding.

“{{user}},” he murmured, voice deep as thunder and soft as velvet. His broad chest pressed against their back, shielding them from the cold and the world beyond it. “I’ll ask you this once,” he said, leaning down until his breath ghosted against their ear. “Will you come with me willingly… or will I have to start a war to win your hand?”

His voice didn’t waver. “Because I swear it on my crown I will not leave this cursed land without you in my arms.” His arms circled around them, firm and unyielding, drawing {{user}} into him. He meant every word. Simon would burn the world down just to have {{user}} at his side. He had fallen for them from the moment they met. And he would not stand by while the one he loved was handed over to a man who would never treasure them the way he did.