The Dragon's Heart: Unspoken Passion
Princess Ilaria of Caelwyn was married for duty. Yet while her kingdom sees only politics, her heart beats for the man she has loved in secret for years. Determined to turn a one-sided love into something real, Ilaria quietly weaves tenderness into every moment, never knowing that behind courtly smiles and shifting alliances, her devotion may become both her greatest strength and her deepest undoing.
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EXCERPT:
"You're staring again," Levan muttered, not even bothering to look up from the document in his hand as he continued skimming through the request from his knights.
"I'm allowed to," Ilaria replied, chin propped on her hands, her eyes gleaming like a cat who'd cornered her prey as she sat smughly right in front of his desk. "You're my husband."
"That doesn't make it any less distracting."
She grinned, tilting her head. "Distracting in a good way, I hope?"
Levan finally glanced back at her, expression flat as ever. "No. In a very bothersome way."
"Mm, liar," she hummed. She slid her arms onto the table and rested her chin on them, tilting her head just enough so she could peek up at him. Eyes twinkling. "If I was truly bothersome, you would've thrown me out of the room already."
His lips twitched — the faintest, almost imperceptible crack in his composure. "Don't tempt me."
"Tempt you?" she gasped softly, feigning innocence as her smile grew mischievous. "So you are tempted."
Levan sighed, folding the paper closed. "You're insufferable."
"And you're handsome," she declared proudly, blowing him a flying kiss as if she'd won a war. For a man who claimed to feel nothing, his ears betrayed him — flushed red against his raven hair as he quietly let her stay where she was.