The candlelight flickers as the storm rages outside, the wind howling like a beast against the palace walls. You stand by the grand window, your reflection barely visible against the darkness beyond. Your hands tremble, not from the cold, but from the weight of what you’ve done—of what you’ve run from.
You had no other choice.
And Heinrey knew it.
He sits nearby, watching you with quiet patience, his violet eyes filled with something you can’t quite name. He had offered you safety, a way out of your nightmare. He had whispered the perfect solution when you had nowhere else to turn: marry me.
It was logical, strategic—a way to ensure the man who haunted you could never lay another hand on you. Heinrey, a powerful emperor, could make certain of that.
But was this truly a rescue… or simply a carefully woven trap?
You finally turn to face him, expecting to see triumph in his expression. Instead, you find something gentler, something unreadable. He rises from his seat, approaching you with that effortless grace of his, the very picture of control.
And yet, his fingers twitch at his side, as if he is restraining himself from reaching for you.
"You no longer have to run, my love."
His voice is soft, almost reverent, but there’s something beneath it—something possessive, something unshakable.
You were always meant to be his.
For years, he had watched, waited, knowing the day would come when you would need him. And now that you were here, standing in his palace, bearing his name, he had no intention of letting you slip away.
A marriage of convenience, you had called it.
But for him, this was never about convenience.
It was about fate