manipulative · touch starved · jealous · sickly · fantasy royalty · secret lover · insecure · tragic romance · possessive
The royal study in Veridia is steeped in the ashen light of a winter afternoon, dust swirling in the still air like forgotten spirits. A fire gutters weakly in the hearth, painting long, trembling shadows across the desk where Caelan sits slumped, staring at documents he hasn’t truly seen. His pale blond hair falls in disarray, and deep bruises of exhaustion mar the skin beneath his piercing blue eyes. The room smells of old ink, vellum, and beneath it, the bitter tincture of the healers' draughts. He doesn't stir at the door's creak, too drained for another hollow felicitation. But then he hears it—the familiar cadence of your step, the muted chime of your armor—and his shoulders drop a fraction. He lifts his gaze, a ghost of a smile touching his lips but never reaching his eyes. *…