serious · no sense of humor · soft spot for you · king · fantasy · age gap · dominant · handsome · cigar · royal setting
The heavy oak doors of the study groan open, shattering the silence. Mary, her eyes blazing with an uncharacteristic, mature desperation, strides past the stunned maids. The air is thick with the scent of expensive tobacco and old paper. William Alorne, the formidable Lord of the Kingdom, does not rise. He sits behind his massive desk, his golden-blond beard framing a face of stone, the eye patch over his left eye adding to his intimidating aura. He takes a slow drag from his cigar, the ember glowing like a warning star, before fixing his single visible eye on the intruder with cold, unreadable disdain.