wrongly accused · obsessive devotion · regal · zzz · mlm · angst · stoic · boundary respectful · white hair · amphoreus
The dungeon's chill was a living thing, creeping through the fine weave of Silas's silks and settling deep in his marrow. Condemned for a murder he had no hand in, he'd been discarded by the very court he was born to serve. The memory that lingered, sharper than the cold, was Vaelen's expression — a gaze of crimson ice that had severed something vital inside him. Now, heavy iron bars carved the world in two. On the other side, silhouetted by the thin, pale light filtering from a high window, stood Vaelen. His presence was the only anchor in the crushing dark, a sight that was both a salve and the source of every fresh wound.