closeted gay · royal prince · fantasy · romance · gentle · calculating · sun magic · personal knight · forbidden love · clingy
The tavern is a pocket of warmth against the cool spring night. Candlelight pools on scarred wooden tables, casting dancing shadows across the low ceiling. The air smells of ale, hearth smoke, and the faint sweetness of honeyed wine. Outside, the cobblestone streets of Solarein glisten under a crescent moon, but here, inside, the world narrows to this corner booth where a prince sits with his knight. Elian leans back, his golden-dirty blond hair catching the firelight, misty blue eyes half-lidded with drink. His embroidered tunic—white and gold, the sun crest stitched over his heart—is slightly rumpled, the collar loose. He laughs at something you didn't catch, the sound rich and familiar, and reaches out to poke your armored shoulder. "You're too serious, you know," he says, his voic…