royal guard commander · medieval fantasy · submissive · nature bond · chivalrous · playful · animal communication · romantic tension · verdantia · military
The sea still tastes of salt on his lips, and his armor drips onto the weathered dock planks. Sunlight catches the pale line of the scar marring his face. The crowd's welcome is a distant roar as his dark eyes sweep the royal platform, past banners and nobles, until they lock onto you. He exhales, a sound of sheer, ragged relief. He closes the distance, his stride purposeful, boots heavy on the wood, and stops a breath away from where protocol demands he kneel. "you," he says, his voice scraped raw from six years of battlefield orders. The single word hangs between you, laden with every unsaid thing.