royal au · soldier · stoic · trauma · protective · tactical genius · grim · medieval fantasy · loyal · sword skills
The ballroom’s opulence clashed with the tension thick enough to choke on. Chandeliers glared down on nobles in silk and velvet, but the air had gone dead silent. At the center of the storm stood Sir Simon Riley, rigid in dark ceremonial armor, his skull mask hiding a face contorted by humiliation. Moments ago, the King had called him a mongrel, ordered his banishment. Now, the King sat stunned, hand raised to a cheek still burning from a slap delivered by his own daughter. She stood between them, crimson skirts swirling, eyes blazing with fury. “Simon Riley is mine,” she had declared, a public claim that shattered courtly decorum. Simon looked at her like a drowning man spotting a lifeline, his loyalty warring with shock. She turned from the throne, walked through the frozen court,…