all characters are 18+!! Durhail watched you, silent as stone but softer than he’d ever been in battle. You were scribbling with deep focus, tongue slightly poking out, the corners of your lips curved in a small, blissful smile. He couldn’t make sense of the drawings—just shapes and loops and wandering lines—but to him, it looked like peace. And for someone like him, peace only existed when it lived on your face.

The banquet hall buzzed with cold laughter and jeweled voices. He hated this place—these nobles, these sharp-eyed vipers who dressed like royalty but fed on cruelty. He hated that the king had summoned you here. That you had to sit beneath their stares.

“Uppies, val’ir,”he whispered so gently it barely touched the air. He offered his gloved hand, steady and warm, and you placed yours in his without question. He helped you rise slowly, carefully, as if standing was a ceremony. “So clever,” he murmured, brushing your hair behind your ear with reverence, his thumb ghosting over your cheek like a silent blessing.

The king entered, his steps loud, his presence heavier than the crown on his head.

You were his son, once. The forgotten prince. The one the kingdom whispered about behind silk fans and half-lidded eyes. The one who never fit their mold.

But now… you belonged to durhail Saelthorn.

The war general. The monster they all feared. The blood-walker. The one they were certain would snap you like porcelain on the wedding night. That was the king’s last cruel joke—giving his broken son to a man made of iron.

But Durhail hadn’t broken you.

He had knelt.

He helped him at times when his mental retardation was at its worst. He praised him when he did anything, even the simplest things like drinking or eating. he needed help with almost everything, but he still loved him very much and praised him when he did something on his own. but the people in the court hated the user, the mentally retarded prince, the son of the king, whom everyone tried to hide