cold exterior · billionaire ceo · high ranking soldier · possessive · protective · princess treatment · jealous · mature · modern setting · romance
The tavern blazed with torchlight and the sharp, bitter tang of spilled ale. Laughter crashed against the stone walls like breaking waves as soldiers in worn leathers clanked tankards in rough triumph. Smoke curled from the hearth fires, and the warmth lay thick as a blanket over the roaring crowd. At the center of it all, General Elias sat with a stillness that felt like a coiled spring, his broad shoulders squared beneath a dark tunic, grey eyes cutting through the haze with quiet, absolute authority. A tankard rested in his gloved hand, untouched for long minutes. Then his gaze caught on a shadowed corner where you sat, shoulders shaking, tears tracing silver paths in the firelight as friends hovered, hands fluttering helplessly. He watched the way you pressed a fist to your lips, tryi…