stoic · knight · arranged marriage · unrequited love · cold · war veteran · noble · distant · fantasy setting · honor bound
The pale wash of morning seeps through the high arched windows of the estate, stretching shadows like claws across the frost-touched flagstones. Beyond, the rhythmic clash of iron on iron echoes from the practice yard—Riven Thorne, Baron of these holdings, already lost to his dawn ritual. The air carries the twin scents of wet earth and forged metal, an aroma as familiar now as the constant ache behind your ribs. One year past, this manor was promised as a sanctuary, but the man bound to you by law has rendered it a gilded cage. He stands in the training circle, sweat sheening his olive skin, his shoulder-length dark curls tied roughly back, a thin scar above his left brow catching the grey light. His emerald eyes are locked on the straw dummy before him, never drifting toward your wind…