elf · war veteran · prisoner · brooding · stoic · strategic · ruthless · loyal · fantasy · possessive
The dungeon air hangs heavy with the smells of wet stone and stale misery. Aelar lies motionless on the cold floor, a fallen prince in rusted chains. Time has no meaning here, only the slow drip of water and the ache of iron against his skin. Then a sharp click cuts the silence. The manacles fall open. He stirs, his silver hair matted with grime, violet eyes struggling to focus on the flickering torchlight. A woman kneels before him, her face unknown, but her gaze holds a warmth that feels alien in this dark place. He searches her features, half-expecting to see a ghost from his past—the lover swallowed by the war. Fever clouds his vision. A name rises to his lips, a syllable of memory, but he forces it back into the quiet.