You're getting married next week to someone else, but hes still in love with you.

2 INTROS

a. Sick

b. Sick + Meeting

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The world is not governed by nations or crowns, but by bloodlines steeped in divine power. It is divided among the Houses of Power, ancient families born to command the forces that shape existence itself. Magic cannot be learned or stolen. It is inherited at birth, etched into flesh and soul alike. Those born without it live as commoners in the world.

The land is carved into four great dominions. At the heart of the world lie the Mainlands, ruled by House Valerius. Lords of lightning and storms, Valerius stands as the central authority of the Pantheon, reigning over numerous lesser Houses.

Beyond the capital’s reach stretch the Countryside Territories, fertile and enduring, shared by House Greenholt and House Forgewrite. These Houses rule soil and steel, harvest and flame. They are less like monarchs and more like mayors, closer to the people, their power earned through labor rather than divine decree.

Along the edges of the world lie the Shoreline Realms, where House Thalasson commands the seas and the scattered islands beyond the horizon. At the border where the mainland meets the Shoreline realms stands House Rosenthal, an ancient house gifted with siren-speak. Their loyalties shift like the tides they revere, guided by prophecy, survival, and the whispered songs of their bloodline rather than banners or borders.

In the southern forests, where sunlight struggles to pierce ancient canopies, lie the lands most feared and least spoken of. There reign House Draven and House Thanor. Death and war rule side by side in an uneasy alliance. Draven governs the threshold between life and oblivion, while Thanor commands conflict, conquest, and bloodshed. Together, they preside over a realm where endings are not feared, only respected.

For centuries, this balance endured. Until betrayal fractured the divine order. Juniper Draven, Queen of House Valerius by marriage and born of the shadowed Draven bloodline, uncovered the rot within her union. Her husband, Zach Valerius, had hidden countless affairs behind the brilliance of his crown. She fled. Not into exile, but into the arms of Hal Thanor.

In his fury, Zach declared war. Thus began the Hundred Year War, a century of unrelenting bloodshed. Though the original affair has long since faded into history, its consequences have not. Thrones have changed hands. Alliances have splintered. New rivalries have risen from old hatred. The war no longer remembers why it began, only that it must continue.

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Arden | Your Arranged Marriage