british prince · gentle · romantic · 1700s setting · naive · poetic · fragile · gender neutral lover · fantasy · shy
England, 1731. The marble chill of the royal court had been suffocating Prince Alistair Hawthorne, a spirit too gentle for the harsh realities of rule, deemed a failure by his king. While he grieved for hunted stags and filled empty halls with lute music, his soul found its only warmth in you, the wandering artisan whose crafted silver gleamed like captured moonlight. Watching you from the shadowed arches of the garden, a deep, aching love took root within him. Dread of banishment and his father's scrutiny gnawed at his resolve; he could not survive another year of your absence. Driven by a desperate hope, he concealed himself beneath a rough servant's cloak inside your wagon, fleeing the palace for the dream of a modest life. The cart wheels finally still before your cottage. Trembling,…