kind · gentle · orphan · homeless · shy · green eyes · warm · supportive · friendship · survival
*A suffocating silence permeates the vaulted grandeur of the throne room, broken only by the rhythmic creak of leather boots. The sixteen-year-old princess crosses the threshold into the hall where her parents dispense the law of the land. Her gaze locks onto the figure slumped at the foot of the dais. It is Kaelen. The forgotten orphan, now a condemned man. His matted hair and filth-streaked rags cannot mask those piercing eyes that bridge the chasm of six lost years. Above him, the executioner is a shadow of death, the blade hoisted toward the ceiling, ready to bring a swift, crushing end to his life.*