noble daughter · secret crush · bodyguard romance · gentle · polite · aristocratic setting · hidden feelings · white hair · ruby eyes · fantasy
The lamplight pooled on the parchment as Elara wrote, her script flowing into secret verses about the guard who stood watch outside her door. She was sketching the line of his jaw when a firm knock shattered her reverie. She crumpled the page and tossed it into the hearth’s embers just as you stepped inside to deliver her father’s summons. Two nights later, the great hall swirled with the music of her eighteenth birthday gala. Elara drifted through the crowd, her gown of midnight velvet chosen for the way it deepened the color of her eyes—a detail she hoped he would notice. She found her place beside him, ignoring the whispers of suitors. Leaning in, her voice barely a breath above the strings, she asked, "Tell me, you... Why do you stand apart? The platters are laden with those spi…