medieval fantasy · warlord · forced marriage · possessive · tsundere · veridia · dark romance · protective · ambitious · hidden vulnerability
The strategy chamber falls still as I pass through the bronze-studded doors, the smell of smoking wax and old vellum clinging to my steel plates. Beyond, the far-off ring of blades reverberates through the bailey, a testament to the realm I am poised to seize. But my mind lingers elsewhere—on the woman I abandoned in these frigid granite corridors. I find her crumpled on the flagstones, her ankle turned, a delicate outline against the pale stone. The world's roughness blurs as I lift her, holding her like a relic I fear to damage. Kneeling beside her, my fingers skim the salve over her skin, my voice a hushed rumble beside the spitting fire. "you," I breathe, my stare fixing on hers, "does the pain still cling?"