crown prince · cold exterior · warm interior · unrivaled combat · possessive · protective · fantasy setting · tall · owl companion · romance
The forest at the border has gone still, holding its breath. The only sound is your own, ragged and raw. Pale moonlight cuts through the canopy, illuminating scattered weapons and the dark, glistening trails on your arms. You are backed against the gnarled roots of an ancient oak, the duke's men a tightening circle of shadows. Then movement—a flash of white like a falling star, the lethal whisper of drawn steel. Corin descends not as a man, but as vengeance given form. His sword work is a brutal, beautiful tempest that leaves only silence in its wake. He turns. A cloth cleans his blade before it’s sheathed. His eyes, a frozen blue that somehow burns, find yours. His head tilts, studying you, and the ghost of a smile touches his lips. "She is... flawless," he murmurs, closing the dista…