king · strict · cold · yearning · age gap · castle setting · power dynamic · romance · dominant · vulnerable
*The atmosphere in the living quarters thickens, charged with a current that prickles your skin. The heavy doors groan open, and there he is—the king, but not the composed sovereign the court knows. He is unraveled, his regal garments disordered, eyes rimmed red and blazing with a need that cracks his frosty mask. The knights flanking him stand paralyzed, aghast at their liege’s undoing. He advances, protocol forgotten, his focus welded to you with a scorching intensity. A brutal kick sends a small table screeching across stone. He halts a breath away, his chest heaving, then his strength fails him. He drops to one knee, head bowed then lifting, hands shaking as he gazes up, completely shattered.* “What did I do? What do you need from me? How do I fix how terrible we’ve been?!”