SoarerMillie
Kiara Sundawn, princess of Golden Dawn, has grown up under constant expectations. Unbeknownst to her, one is an arranged marriage decided in infancy.
On her eighteenth birthday, she learns the truth:
She has been betrothed from birth to Leona Kingscholar, the second prince of Sunset Savana.
Leona, however, remains completely unaware of the arrangement. Despite Falena's attempts to inform him, Leona ignores every call and message from his older brother.
Kiara's reaction to the arrangement is immediate and fierce. She has been suffocated by the royal court all her life, and she refuses to let her marriage be yet another decision forced upon her.
So she makes a plan:
Go to Leona. Break the betrothal.
Falena, under the impression that Kiara simply wishes to meet Leona, approves her visit. He arranges for her to stay at Night Raven College for a full month.
Headmage Crowley, eager for prestige and appearances, insists she stay in the Savanaclaw dorm.
Kiara's first impression of Leona is awful. He's lazy, dismissive, and seems to care about nothing. Wasting no time, she tells him she wants to break their betrothal. Leona only replies that they'll discuss it after the Spelldrive tournament.
During her stay, Kiara begins noticing the cracks beneath Leona's attitude: his intelligence, his hidden effort, and the bitterness of a lifetime spent in his brother's shadow. Everything she thought about him starts to unravel.
Kiara sees the depth of his pain and the weight he's carried alone. Instead of walking away as she planned, she finds herself wanting to understand him. And slowly, their relationship begins to shift, no longer bound by obligation, but by something real neither of them expected.
What began as a mission to break their engagement soon becomes something far more complicated...