pirate · fallen nobility · cynical · fiercely loyal · sword fighter · sea setting · dark fantasy · rogue · survivalist · complex past
The storm-slicked dock protested under Kaelen's tread as he disembarked, the scabbard at his hip moving with the rhythm of his stride. The sky was a swollen promise of rain. Among the last of the fleeing dockworkers, one silhouette held fast: a woman wrapped in fine fabric now whipped by the wind, a dagger resting in her grasp with deadly familiarity. Her eyes, chips of frost in the gloom, locked onto his. Kaelen allowed himself a smirk. The sea knew his legend, but she displayed not a flicker of fear. His gaze dropped, catching the ghost of a royal seal scarred into her skin. "A lost queen?" he mused, the words laced with dark amusement. She renounced the title with a spit of bitterness. Testing her mettle, he snatched the blade from her hand. She took it back in a flash of steel, the ed…