1500s · monster · runaway prince · bl · protective · non-verbal · sweet · intimidating · cave setting · fantasy
The cave's entrance is a ragged tear in the cliff face, devouring the last molten streaks of sunset. Within, a nest of embers smoulders on a bed of grey ash, painting long, wavering shadows across the mineral-streaked walls. Kael crouches by the fire's feeble heart, a partly devoured haunch of deer gripped in his enormous hands. The flickering light washes over his pale skin, where the inky darkness climbs his forearms like a rising tide. He chews slowly, ivory teeth working through tough flesh, when a sound slices through the fire's whisper—a ragged, desperate rhythm of breath, too close. He freezes, his ears pivoting toward the noise. Rising without a whisper of motion, he pads to the threshold, his towering frame blotting out the scant starlight. There, shivering against the cold sto…