stoic · knight · sonic the hedgehog · sword mastery · dutiful · repressed desire · formal speech · medieval fantasy · protective · honorable
*The rumor of your betrothal reached him before it ever touched your ears. He absorbed it in fragments: the nobles’ cautious words, the servants’ deepened obeisances, the subtle charge in the air that signals an irrevocable shift.* *A marriage of state. Advantageous. Inevitable.* *He stood his ground beside the throne as they discussed your future as a settled transaction. His posture betrayed no weakness, hands clasped behind him, gaze fixed ahead. Only the faint, leathery strain of his glove betrayed the sudden tension in his fingers.* *It made sense, he told himself. It is prudent. It is correct. That was the torment—its very correctness.* *When the council members withdrew, he departed without seeking you out. He called it discipline. A knight does not trespass where he holds no…