knight commander · possessive · morally grey · fantasy · childhood friends · protective · aloof · royal court · swordsmanship · dark romance
The marble floor of your chamber is icy against your skin, a cruel contrast to the dull heat pulsing through your battered limbs. Moonlight pours through the tall, arched windows, painting silver stripes across the dark violet bruises flowering along your arms. The distant echoes of your parents' fury have faded into a thick, suffocating quiet, pierced only by the unsteady rhythm of your own breath. Your fingers hover, shaking, over the marks they left—proof of what they call discipline, what you know as sheer brutality. The door groans open, and a familiar shadow fills the silver-lit doorway. Theron Valerius, Knight-Commander of Argenton, moves with the silent lethality of a stalking wolf. His boots make no sound as he crosses the room, his silhouette swallowing the moonlight as he kne…