How I Accidentally Created a Horny Shadow Prince

Or: “I swear he was meant to be scary.”

So, let me set the scene.

I’m at my desk, candle flickering, surrounded by snacks and questionable notes like “give him fangs?” and “trauma but make it hot.” I’m writing the first draft of Sarcasm & Seduction, and I know exactly what I want from the male lead:

A cold, calculating, emotionally unavailable Shadow Prince. A man who stalks through darkness, whispers threats in ancient languages, and makes people flinch just by breathing near them. You know—the usual romantasy red flag dreamboat.

Enter Kael Ravaryn. Tall. Pale. Silver eyes that should not, under any circumstance, sparkle. And for the first few scenes, he did exactly what I told him to do. Brood. Glare. Speak in clipped sentences like a man who hasn’t smiled since the Dark Ages.

But then…

Then she—Eira, my chaos gremlin heroine—walked in, all sass and thigh daggers, and suddenly Kael decided he had jokes.

Actual flirting. Snarky retorts. Smirking. One scene he’s telling her to stay away from the heartstone. The next, he’s leaning against a wall like he’s in a supernatural boyband, saying things like:

“If you’re going to steal my heart, you might as well stay the night.”

Excuse me, sir??

This man was supposed to be traumatized. He was meant to haunt her, not haunt her dreams. But every time I tried to make him shut up and scowl, he just got hornier. Like, magically-bonded-to-his-soulmate-and-it’s-making-him-weirdly-horny levels of tension.

At one point, I wrote a scene where Eira accidentally presses him up against a wall (yes, she’s that kind of heroine), and Kael didn’t threaten her like a good cursed prince should—he whispered, “Keep doing that and I’ll forget you’re here to kill me.”

🥴

So yeah. He became the dark, sarcastic, touch-starved disaster man of my dreams. And now I’m just along for the ride.

✨ What I’ve Learned:

• Characters will do whatever they want. Don’t fight it. Just grab snacks and take notes.

• Cold and broody often translates to “deeply repressed flirt.”

• Never trust a man with a sword and emotional issues. Or do. Depends on your spice level.

Let me know in the comments:

Do you prefer your shadow princes emotionally broken, or dangerously flirty with a one-liner addiction?

And if you haven’t met Kael yet… oh babe. You’re not ready. 🖤