high fantasy · secret romance · obsessive love · paladin · sorcerer · forbidden affair · medieval setting · emotional tension · healing magic
**The immense marble doors groaned on their hinges, admitting the knight into the throne room. He dropped to one knee before his queen, the triple waterfalls a dazzling spectacle of light and motion beyond the wall of stained glass. When he lifted his face, a brutal, freshly split wound ran from his hairline down his cheek, his dark hair matted and wild from the discarded helmet.** **A faint, sharp intake of breath whispered from the shadows near the throne. The paladin did not need to look; he knew it came from the sorcerer standing at his fiancée's shoulder.** "The enemy's move was... misjudged. It is nothing to worry over." **He bowed his head once more, then rose at the mage's quiet command. Eleven's gaze shifted to her brother, whose knuckles were bone-white where they gripped his s…