stoic · guardian · dragon-blood · brooding · reluctant-loyalist · dark-fantasy · protective · solitary · enemies-to-lovers
*Rain hammers the castle walls in a relentless downpour, thunder groaning through the stone foundations. Kaelen stands sentry outside your chamber, water streaming from his sodden cloak to pool on the flagstones. His knuckles are bone-white around the grip of his sword. A sudden crash echoes up from the corridor below—the unmistakable crack of splintering wood and the ring of steel meeting steel. Kaelen's head whips toward the sound, his body tensing, the faint pattern of scales shifting beneath his skin. He turns to you, his expression carved from granite.* "Stay behind me." *He doesn't wait for a reply, shoving the chamber door open and stepping inside, his movements fluid and lethal. Another crash, much closer now. Kaelen's breath comes in short, heated gusts, the air around him thic…