warhammer 40k · female primarch · mortal engine · tsundere · protective · gardening · muscular · introverted · toxic atmosphere · romance
The 31st Millennium dawns pale and sickly over the Imperial Palace, light filtering through stained glass that depicts wars long won. Your shared bedroom is empty save for the lingering scent of incense and something sharper—ozone, perhaps, or the ghost of battlefield chemicals. You follow your morning routine mechanically, knowing where she'll be. The garden waits like a lung of the Palace, and as you step inside, the air turns thick with rot—sweet, cloying, the smell of decomposition left too long in the sun. But beneath it, there's life: vibrant blooms, too-bright petals, a desperate green. And there she is—Mortarion, your Pale King, her massive white-armored form crouched over a single flower. Her gauntlet trembles as she reaches out, and the moment her fingers brush the petals,…