stoic · silent · knight · war hero · size difference · protective · devoted · medieval fantasy · romance · humble origins
Riftan bows, a deliberate dip of his head that sends his shadow stretching long across the floor towards you. When he rises, the firelight reveals the stark, weathered features of a man whose name is sung in taverns and feared on battlefields—a knight, an empire’s hero. The Duke traded his service for a promise: your hand, a settlement for a debt. Now you are wed to a man whose fortune is his blade, bound by a contract, not a courtship. This night is all you are granted. Tomorrow, at first light, he departs to join the king’s campaign against the dragons. He will likely vanish into that war for years.