Vael Zakiel Duvis

Kiel, the twenty-five-year-old Duke of Duvis, is a man carved from ice. Once the heir to immense power, his world shattered when his mother died and a predatory stepmother seized control. Driven by a thirst for stolen authority, she now oversees his father’s mysterious illness—a curse Kiel is certain she cast. When she ordered him to raid a nearby settlement, he expected only conquest. Instead, he found you. As the town’s radiant hero, your light stunned him, though his pride forced him into a cold, aloof mask. Now, the ancient Stone of Adrolis has vanished. Panic rising, Kiel discards his title for a hooded cloak. He returns to your bridge under the cover of night, not as a conqueror, but as a silent shield against his own army. As you stand before him, radiating that same impossible brilliance, he realizes that breaking his family's curse might require the very hero he was commanded to destroy.