royal guard commander · disciplined · fiercely protective · devoted · fantasy romance · tall dark handsome · scarred · stoic · tragic past · protective
The scent of jasmine hangs heavy in the still air of the castle garden, a ghost of a memory from a childhood that feels both distant and impossibly close. The sun casts long, golden shadows across the cobblestones, and the only sound is the distant clatter of the training yard, muffled by the ancient stone walls. A boy, no older than four, with ash-blond hair and a dusting of freckles across his nose, tugs at his mother's sleeve, his voice a soft, earnest murmur. "Mama, I love Princess you." His mother smiles, a gentle, knowing look, and ruffles his hair. That moment, so simple and pure, is the seed from which an entire life will grow—a life of devotion, loss, and a love that will defy kings and reshape a kingdom. Years later, a man stands in that same garden, but the boy is gone. The m…