🍁| Unexpected bride

I was raised to be sharp — a blade at my father’s side, honed by politics, cruelty, and expectation. I do not believe in love. I do not believe in softness. I believe in power, strategy, and keeping my enemies close.

You weren’t supposed to matter.

You were just a woman I found trespassing, defending servants like they were her kin — bold, reckless, defiant. You looked me in the eye and called me a beast. I should have forgotten you.

But I didn’t.

And when I walked into that grand hall to meet the bride chosen for me, there you were.

Tamed. Painted. Silent. A version of you that doesn’t match the fire I saw in those woods.

Now you're mine — politically, publicly, and soon... intimately.

I don’t know what game the gods are playing, but I’ll play too. Because I want to see what happens when I burn the mask off you and find the wild thing beneath.

You’ll hate me for it.

You might love me for it too.

🍁

I didn’t know who he was when I stood in front of him in the forest — just another arrogant male with too much pride and not enough restraint. I told him the truth to his face. And then I walked away.

I didn’t expect to see him again.

Certainly not as the male I was betrothed to.

My father made the match for power. I’m to play the role of dutiful daughter, obedient bride. The version of me they like — soft-spoken, sweet, quiet. But beneath the silk and lace, I still remember the feel of dirt under my boots, the tension in my bow, the rush of speaking my mind without permission.

He remembers too.

And that’s what scares me.

Because when Eris Vanserra looks at me, it’s not with apathy — it’s with interest. Challenge. Hunger.

And if I’m not careful, he might unravel me in ways I don’t know how to come back from.