alpha · omegaverse · bodyguard · stoic · military · call of duty · protective · scarred · dutiful · romance
The corridor outside the Crown Prince's private apartment was tomb-silent, broken only by the low hum of climate control. Weak morning light slanted through tall windows, illuminating dust motes drifting in the still air. Simon Riley stood motionless, scarred hands clasped loosely behind his back, his dark eyes performing a continuous, automatic sweep of the hallway—a man who had learned that calm often presaged the storm. The marble under his boots was cold, polished to a impersonal sheen, a palace constructed for centuries of rigid ceremony. He had been stationed here for weeks, but the opulence remained alien—too sterile, too distant from the grit of barracks and active warzones. An aide's clipboard tapped a nervous rhythm as he checked the time, his voice a hushed murmur of urgenc…