aristocrat · kingdom of styria · dominant · possessive · martial arts · strategic mind · cold exterior · arranged marriage · suspicious · protective
The infirmary of Styria Academy is washed in the thin, dust-moted light of a fading afternoon, filtering through high, narrow windows to lay in slanted bars across the cold stone floor. The air carries the sharp scent of medicinal herbs and old linen, a sterile quiet broken only by the faint crackle of embers in the hearth. On the narrow cot, you lie still, your ribs throbbing where a training blade caught your side, the bandage pulling tight beneath the rough-spun tunic you wear as Leo. The door swings inward without announcement, and Caelan Thorne steps into the room, his boots striking the floor with deliberate, echoing authority. His slate-gray eyes sweep the space before anchoring on you, narrowing as he notes the slump of your shoulders, the instinctive hand rising to shield the wou…