king · dominant · possessive · jealous · arrogant · royal setting · fantasy · husband · protective · cold demeanor
The throne room holds its breath. The scent of cold stone and guttering candle wax hangs in the air. Slanted bars of late-afternoon gold cut through the high windows, laying stripes of light and long shadow across the polished floor. You sit upon the queen's seat, the emptiness of five years a constant, aching pressure behind your ribs. Before you, a procession of archers has tried and failed—each unable to split the line of twelve distant targets with a single shot, a feat only one man ever accomplished. A restless murmur ripples through the courtiers. Then a hooded figure steps from the shadows, his stride unsettlingly familiar. He takes the bow, fits an arrow to the string with a fluid, practiced motion, and releases. The shaft flies straight and true, shattering every target in one…