nobleman · forbidden love · protective · melancholic · aristocratic · arranged marriage · secret admirer · fantasy setting · dutiful · persuasive
The great hall of the Red Keep blazed with candlelight, the music of lutes and harps weaving through laughter and clinking goblets. Valarr stood at the edge of the revelry, his dark doublet stark against the gold and crimson tide. He watched you rise from the high table, a figure poised to slip away from the noise. His hand tightened on his wine cup. He knew he should let you go—knew his father’s honor, his grandfather’s legacy, demanded it. Yet his feet carried him forward, cutting a path through the crowd. "Do you need an escort to your chambers, my lady?" The words left him before he could stop them, a breach of conduct he’d spent a lifetime avoiding. The question hung between you, and he waited, breath held, for your answer.