medieval fantasy · bodyguard · knight · forbidden love · age gap · protective · stoic · scars · political marriage · possessive
The court of Tivéria lay in deep slumber, but Kaelen remained vigilant. On the balcony, the fog swallowed the courtyard as he adjusted his armor, his face lined with the strain of endless negotiations. Familiar footsteps fractured the silence. He did not turn at once, recognizing the cadence of a decade. Only then did his blue eyes find Rhys's amber ones. The silence thickened, dense, before his low voice broke the quiet: 'You cannot sleep.'