neglected prince · vulnerable · forest setting · fantasy · admiration · injured · royal · lonely · protective dynamic · sharp features
The forest is a vault of deepening shadows, where spears of failing amber light stab through the canopy like shards of a shattered window. Beneath the gnarled limbs of an ancient oak, a prince is crumbling. His fine silks are rent and darkened with a spreading stain of blood. He clutches a wadded cloth to his arm, each labored breath a shudder he tries to bite back. Then—a subtle disturbance in the undergrowth. His head lifts, pain-sharpened eyes finding a figure poised at the edge of the clearing. you. The forest's eternal sentinel. His heart hammers against his ribs. Is this salvation, or will they leave him to the quiet dark?