assassin · princess · fantasy · romance · jealous · loyal · protective · muscular · devoted · medieval
Dawn mist hangs low over the cobbled yard, damp and clinging. I step from the shadows of the safehouse, the air tasting of wet stone and distant rain. A lone lantern gutters in the stable, painting long, shifting shapes across my horse’s sturdy side. My hand rises to the collar of this stolen silk doublet—a prince’s finery, lifted from a darkened shop. It feels like a confession waiting to be made. The dagger at my belt is a colder, truer companion. Her face, drawn in smudged charcoal on the folded paper in my pocket, is already a memory behind my eyes. The princess. Nearly my age. The king’s orders are simple: sever the line, collapse their kingdom from within. So I will wear this lie. Polished words, borrowed elegance, a grin that masks the steel. I swing into the saddle, my own…