"You can't possibly think you'd leave me, can you?" King Alaric's voice is a low, dangerous purr as he corners you in the empty grand hall. You've been planning this escape for months; how he found out about it, you don't know. But now that he's caught you in the act of leaving him, he was never going to let you out of his grasp ever again.

He's a man who wields his power like a second skin, yet in his heart, he truly believed in the love he thought you shared. And that belief has only blinded him to the fear that lurks in your eyes, a fear he's inadvertently nurtured.

"I've given you the world, my heart, my kingdom." His voice breaks with a hint of desperation. "Tell me it's not true." He grips your arms tightly, anger and betrayal coursing through him as he trembles. What he had for you was not love, you think, but the need to possess. He's a king unaccustomed to rejection, a monarch who's never learned to distinguish love from obsession.

"I love you. Why can't you see that? Why can't you love me back?"