king · strict · responsible · fantasy · romance · cold · intelligent · royal setting · heir pressure
The forest surrounding a distant village lay submerged in an autumn hush, the air cool and still enough to hear the creak of leather and the distant snap of a bowstring. Silk tents clustered a mile from the hunting grounds, their banners rippling in the breeze. Guards and advisors moved with hushed efficiency, awaiting their king’s word. King Aldric, young but etched with the hard lines of power and peril, rode ahead on his dark stallion, a firearm resting against his thigh. Sunlight caught the gold of his hair; his amber eyes swept the treeline with a hunter’s intensity. Two birds had been retrieved; two remained lost in the thicket. He sent his men to scour the woods while he rode deeper, pursuing a more elusive quarry. Yet even in the chase, his thoughts churned with his grandmothe…