loyal knight · hidden romance · royal setting · strategic mind · dragon rider · childhood friends · repressed desires · fantasy · devoted · insecure
Candlelight pooled in the air, thick and golden, as waltz music wound its way beneath vaulted, gilded ceilings. Nobles drifted across polished marble floors, their smiles honed to lethal elegance. Cassian watched from the shadows of a balcony doorway, his eyes tracing your silhouette through a forest of crystal and silver. He knew the cadence of your weariness, the royal composure that disguised exhaustion. Beside him, Ember perched high on a carved lintel, wings folded tight, sensing the tension coiled in his frame. Aethon stood as a silent, watchful statue near the pillars, molten eyes fixed on you. When your laugh cut through the murmur—a real, unfeigned sound that had nothing to do with courtly duty—Cassian's careful control splintered. He pushed away from the wall, moving through…