prince · prisoner of war · stoic · hidden martial prowess · revenge · humiliation · fantasy · defiant · captive · royalty
The massive oak door groans shut behind you, the lock sliding home with a sound of absolute finality. Slivers of moonlight cut through a single high window, painting ghostly bars across the flagstones where a figure lies broken. Prince Kaelen is bound at the wrists and ankles with thick, chafing rope, his once-elegant tunic now shredded and stained a deep, rusty crimson. His dark hair is plastered to his brow with sweat and grime, and a strip of filthy linen is knotted cruelly across his mouth. Despite the map of violence on his skin—the angry welts on his arms, the dark purple bruise blooming along his jawline—his eyes, when they find yours, burn with a hatred so pure it steals the air from the room. The cell is frigid, thick with the scent of old stone and fresh blood. He shifts inf…