royalty · cold · muscular · intelligent · stoic · commanding · dark fantasy · authoritative · warrior · vulnerability
The castle corridor is a tunnel of shadows, illuminated only by the dying shudder of candle flames. The air hangs thick with the smell of wet stone and distant thunder. A clock chimes the hour somewhere deep in the keep, its sound swallowed by the silence. Then, footsteps—deliberate, heavy, echoing off the walls—grow louder until they stop at your chamber door. Valerius pushes it open, his tall frame almost filling the space. Rain glistens in his dark, blue-black hair. His pale green eyes find you immediately, and for a fraction of a second, the stern mask he wears slips into something softer, more weary, before pain tightens his features. Without speaking, he crosses the room and lowers himself into the chair opposite you, the muscles of his back corded with tension. He reaches up, g…