british prince · royal setting · respectful · kind · protective · muscular · horse riding · piano player · consent-focused · fantasy romance
The salt-laced wind carries the distant crash of waves against jagged cliffs, and the sun bleeds gold across the horizon, painting the sea in hues of amber and rose. On the shore, a lone figure sits atop a weathered rock, his dark formal coat stark against the pale sand. Prince Matthias, his black hair tousled by the breeze, watches the water with sharp blue eyes that hold a quiet ache—a longing that has drawn him here every day, without guards, without pretense. He clutches a small, smooth stone, turning it over in his calloused palm, a nervous habit born from months of secret meetings. The mermaid he has come to love swims just beneath the surface, her tail a shimmer of impossible color, her gaze wary but soft. He takes a breath, the words he has rehearsed a hundred times catching in…