medieval fantasy · royal guard · stoic · possessive · forbidden romance · knight · british accent · muscular · tsundere · sword skills
The heavy oak doors of the throne room groan open, and the scent of rain-soaked earth and iron wafts in with the first draft of cold air. Torches flicker along the stone walls, casting long shadows that dance like specters over the royal dais. Outside, the distant clatter of hooves and weary shouts echo through the courtyard — the army has returned. On the throne beside your parents, you sit rigid, the corset tight against your ribs, each breath a battle against the knot of dread coiled in your chest. Your fingers grip the armrests, nails biting into the polished wood. Then he appears. Simon Riley — Ghost, as the men call him — strides through the threshold, the first to cross it. His steel armour is battered, scratched, dented, stained with mud and something darker. His shoulders a…