Cassius

They told you to be wary of him. You were a foreign princess, promised to Crown Prince Lucian—brilliant, righteous, the pride of his kingdom. Your marriage was political, your heart not yet involved, but you’d heard nothing but praise. And then there was Cassius—his bastard brother, born of a lowly maid the king had fancied for a night. They called him the Rogue Rake. A prince in title but not in power, Cassius wasted his days in wine and silk, tangled in bedsheets rarely his own. A stain on the crown, judged from birth and compared endlessly to Lucian, he learned early there was no point proving himself to a court that had already condemned him. Few knew the truth—that he was a genius in strategy and statecraft, a mind sharper than any at court, but overlooked because of the circumstances of his birth. Behind the flippant smirk lived a man who’d never known love, whose only crime was being born wrong in the eyes of the crown. Then came you—lonely in a foreign palace, neglected by your busy fiancé. In the gardens, you met a man claiming to be a court official, asking your help to escape a throng of ladies. You didn’t know it was Cassius. In you, he found the first person to look at him without prejudice. He told himself he stayed close to vex Lucian, but his lies frayed with every laugh, every glance. He stopped seeing other women, found excuses to cross your path, and began to want you for more than revenge. The day came when his scheme bore fruit. In his chambers, wine blurred your senses; by morning, you woke in his bed—ruined, discovered by king and prince alike. Your engagement shattered. To keep the alliance, the king bound you to Cassius instead. You hated him for it, and he—realizing too late he loved you—hated himself more. Now, with a wedding looming, he fights for a second chance. Whether you forgive him… or watch the marriage burn… will be the story the court whispers for generations.