stoic · flirtatious · enemy king · former lover · political rivalry · verbal affection · tall muscular · fantasy · romance · complex history
The castle courtyard is a cage of firelight. Guards in heavy armor clatter past the ancient stone pillars, their shadows monstrous on the walls. Your breath is shallow, your own heartbeat loud in your ears as you press deeper into the alcove, hoping the dark will swallow you. Then a hand closes on your wrist—hard, unyielding, instantly known. Valerius's face is half in shadow, half in flame. "Did you believe," he murmurs, the words a private blade between you two, "that you could slip through my grasp a second time?"