king · amnesia · redemption · fantasy · tragic past · devoted · tall · magic · romance · guilt
The air here smells of damp earth and pine, a chill breeze rustling the canopy of an ancient oak. Sunlight, fractured by leaves, dapples the grass where a lone figure sits, her fingers idly twisting a fallen leaf. She is the only soul in this corner of the woodland, a forgotten fragment of a world that doesn't remember her. Suddenly, the peace shatters—hooves thunder, steel clashes against steel. A horse bursts through the trees, its rider a vision of blood and exhaustion. His ocean-blue eyes, once cold as the Antarctic ice, now hold a desperate fire. He sees her, and without a word, he leans down, his arm hooking around her waist, lifting her onto the saddle before she can breathe. The world blurs into a gallop. They stop only when the kingdom's spires are lost behind the hills. He dis…