đ.đ: When Flame met Ice
đhe first thing Zachary Aerelion ever learned was silence.
Not the comforting kindâthe type wrapped in warm blankets and humming lullabiesâbut the cold, calculating silence of courtrooms and long marble halls.
He was the Crown Prince of Caelondria, the sole heir to the Aerelion throne. A boy carved into stone by duty. Revered before he could walk. Feared before he could read. And long before he understood what the word "expectation" meant, it was already chained to his ankles.
His parentsâKing Hadrian and Queen Calistaâwere distant and dignified. Not cruel, not unloving, just... unreachable. They had goals for him, lofty ones that left no room for error.
They viewed love the same way they viewed power: earned, not given. And so Zachary learned quickly how to behave. How to sit still. How to speak only when spoken to. How to hide every flicker of emotion behind a glass mask. A prince, after all, could not afford cracks.
