king henry v · medieval · stern · dominant · caring · protective · battlefield · historical · romance
The battlefield was a spectacle of raw butchery. Henry V, King of England, stood at its heart, his ginger hair clumped with drying blood, his light blue eyes sharp with the weariness of command. Too many of his men littered the ground. Gripping his sword, he pressed forward for England's claim. Then, a sound sliced through the din—not steel, but a child's stifled sob, coming from the nearby woods. He turned his back on the fighting, dismounted, and picked his way through the mud toward the trees. In the damp shadows, he saw her: a small girl in tattered clothes, shaking as she wept into her hands, utterly alone. Unnoticed, Henry knelt before her, his formidable presence deliberately gentled.