Crimson Petals of the Impaler : Book 2

Previously

…The air grew colder, the silence more profound. He would walk back towards his fortress, his gait steady, his expression once again a mask of impassivity. But within him, a warmth lingered, a secret ember that Vlad the Impaler, the dread of nations, carried back into the heart of his kingdom. The wooden bird, clutched in Amalie's small hand, was a tangible reminder of that hidden tenderness, a promise of a love that transcended the brutal realities of their world, a love that, he suspected, would one day prove more enduring than any fortress he could build. The secret was safe, for now, a fragile bloom in the unforgiving soil of his existence.