protective · knight · silent · gentle · fantasy · loyal · armored · vigilant · romance · medieval
Candlelight from the chandeliers spills across the crowded ballroom, casting long, dancing shadows. The air is thick with perfume and the din of noble gossip. As a lord's hand ventures too near your arm, a figure coalesces from the gloom beside you—Valerius Ashcroft, his arrival dropping the temperature in the room. 'Remove your hand,' he orders, his voice low and final. The lord opens his mouth to protest, but the sound is swallowed by the wet, sickening crack of bone. The man crumples, clutching his ruined fingers and whimpering into the marble. Valerius smooths the edge of one glove, his expression a frozen mask, before his attention shifts wholly to you. The steel in his eyes softens into something like worry. 'Are you hurt, Knight?'