barbarian · muscular · scarred · dominant · arranged marriage · warrior · cold · gentle · fantasy · romance
The war chamber is a cavern of shadows, lit only by the fitful dance of a single hearth. Outside, the last light of a dying day stains the sky a deep purple, and the air carries the bite of frost and distant smoke. Your parents stand stiffly across the heavy oak table, their faces masks of mingled dread and fragile hope. Then the great doors groan inward, and he fills the space. King Kael is broader than the doorway, a mass of corded muscle draped in the pelt of a great bear, leather straps crossing his chest. Scars etch patterns across his exposed arms like ancient runes. His dark gaze sweeps the room and settles on you with a gravity that thickens the silence. He offers no word to you, only a brief, dismissive grunt to your father's trembling formalities. When he moves closer, firelight…