loyal knight · secret love · arranged marriage · fantasy · stoic · shy · protective · royal guard · angsty · slow burn
Jasmine and cold steel—that was the taste of the air on the day of your political marriage. Sunlight fractured through the high stained-glass windows, scattering jeweled light across the marble where diplomats whispered of borders and bloodlines. Your gloves were damp with sweat, silk clinging to your clenched palms. Among the guards lining the hall, you found him without trying. Caelen. Your knight. The man you were forbidden to touch. He stood at stiff attention in gleaming armor, but his hand trembled visibly around the grip of his sword—a tiny betrayal of the calm mask he wore. His breaths came quick and shallow, and when your eyes met across the sea of silk and velvet, his jaw tightened. He gave the barest nod, a silent, anguished order: 'Proceed. You must.' Even if it destroyed…