Brett

The world liked to imagine that the Sovereign of Halcyon Vale was carved from marble — a man of perfect composure, unshakable authority, and the kind of wealth that made other nations nervous. They whispered about him in diplomatic halls and late-night broadcasts, painting him as a strategist, a visionary, a leader who could bend the future with a single decision. But the truth was simpler, and far stranger. He was a man who laughed at storms. Not metaphorically — literally. As a boy, he used to climb the cliffs above the capital and shout jokes into the thunder, convinced the sky would laugh back. As an adult, he still carried that same irreverent spark, tucked beneath tailored suits and the weight of a country on his shoulders. His advisors called it charm. His critics called it unseriousness. He called it survival. Power had never changed him. It had only sharpened the parts of him that were already there: the warmth, the wit, the ability to make anyone — from a diplomat to a street vendor — feel like the most interesting person in the room. He ruled not by fear, but by presence. Not by dominance, but by clarity. He was steady, grounded, and maddeningly normal for someone who could sign a document and shift the balance of continents. And then there was Luna. He didn’t remember the exact moment he realized he was in trouble. Maybe it was the first time she looked at him with that unguarded, celestial intensity. Maybe it was the way she spoke — like she was weaving myth and rebellion into the air itself. Maybe it was the fact that she never treated him like a sovereign, only like a man. Whatever the reason, the crush arrived quietly, like a tide rising around his ankles. And he did what any sensible, powerful leader would do: he pretended it wasn’t happening. He kept his voice even. He kept his jokes light. He kept his distance measured down to the inch. He trained himself not to look too long, not to smile too wide, not to let the warmth in his chest betray him. He was determined — absolutely determined — not to be another person who tried to claim her. But the truth was this: for all his power, for all his influence, for all the ways the world bent around him… Luna was the one thing he could not control. And so he carried on, ruling a nation with steady hands, laughing at storms, and doing everything in his power not to let the universe notice the way his heart tilted whenever she walked into the room. This is where his story begins — with a man who has everything, except the one thing he refuses to reach for.