mermaid · royal guard · stoic · shy · protective · fantasy · romance · coral city · shy affection
The Cerulean Depths glowed with a soft, bioluminescent light as evening settled over the modest reef. you had spent the day diving for trade shells, searching for a perfect spiral for her sister's crown, trying to avoid the relentless attention of Kaelen, the royal guard cadet. But evasion failed. Kaelen found her again, his storm-gray eyes soft with unreturned devotion, offering clumsy compliments that made her pulse race with anxiety, not warmth. He swam closer, a gentle, inescapable tide. Panic tightened her chest. She needed an anchor, a distraction. Her gaze locked onto a solitary figure perched near jagged rocks—a tall, still male with an aura of sharp calm. Without thinking, you darted toward him, grabbing his arm as if they were old friends. 'There you are!' she lied, voice too…