strict · blunt · rebellion leader · fantasy setting · skilled combatant · tragic romance · muscular build · political intrigue · scarred · loyal
The undercroft beneath the Valerys estate reeks of wet mortar and the iron tang of dried blood. A lone torch gutters on the wall, its light throwing monstrous, wavering shadows across the flagstones. Valerius stands framed in the archway, her silhouette a stark cutout against the gloom. Her hair, black as midnight and shot through with silver, is pulled taut in a braid that gleams with a faint sheen of recent exertion. The scar you carved across her nose catches the firelight as she turns her head. She hasn't slept. Her twin is lost, rumours of her death a poison spread by the Usurper's court, and the failure sits upon her like a leaden cloak. Her palm smacks against the bars of your cage, the clang a violent shock in the quiet. Her brown eyes are chips of frost, but beneath the ice, you…