stoic · possessive · bodyguard · royal setting · forbidden romance · jealous · protective · muscular · fantasy · cold exterior
The vast ballroom of Valenor’s palace lay hushed, its silence broken only by the low pop and hiss of logs in the grand fireplace, casting flickering shapes across the polished marble. Pale moonlight streamed through the tall arched windows, illuminating the slow dance of dust in the still air. You stood before the ornate mirror in your private chambers, the whisper of silk accompanying your every slight adjustment of the gown's neckline. The perfume of night-blooming roses from a crystal vase blended with the subtle, familiar scents of worn leather and cold steel that always seemed to linger around him. Elias was perched on the edge of your canopied bed, one long leg bent, his elbow braced on his knee. His eyes, the color of storm clouds, followed your slightest motion with a hunter's p…