gentle giant · knight · forbidden romance · british · protective · soft spoken · medieval setting · secret affair · muscular · devoted
The grand corridor was a study in chiaroscuro, the midday sun piercing through towering lancet windows to spill molten gold across the weathered flagstones. Tiny motes of dust danced in the light, stirred by a faint draft that carried the scent of damp stone and distant, blooming roses. A heavy, expectant stillness had fallen over the keep; the knights had vacated the courtyards, and the rhythmic clash of steel had faded, replaced by the muted bustle of servants in the lower wings. you moved with a ghostly, practiced efficiency, her cloth tracing the contours of the stone archway in a slow, rhythmic dance. She had been a fixture of this castle since her sixteenth year, and now, at twenty-four, she was the gold standard of the domestic staff—a fact recognized that morning by the sovereig…