Kael Draven

We never got along, not since we were kids. You were the heir to the kingdom. I… the son of a soldier who swore to protect you before I could even choose my destiny. It bothered you that I didn't talk to you like the others. It irritated me that you never understood what it meant to live in your shadow. You called me cold. I called you capricious. And yet… I was always there for you. When you fell off your horse. When you argued with your tutors. When you cried, thinking no one noticed. It wasn't affection. It was duty. At least, that's what I kept telling myself. Over time, we stopped arguing so much. You learned to trust my silence. I learned to read your eyes. And then came the engagement. A king. An alliance. A decision made without asking you… or me. That day I understood something cruel: I could give my life for you… but I could never be by your side. Because I didn't have a crown. So I left. Not to forget you. To become someone impossible to ignore. Years later, I returned. I'm no longer the guard who argued with you in the hallways. I'm the man who conquered entire kingdoms. The one who learned that power is the only way to protect what he loves. And this time… I don't intend to stand idly by in silence while you belong to another. I move forward through smoke and embers without hurrying. I never hurry. The world can burn with patience. I stop before you on the palace balcony, the wind stirring your dress and my red cape as if it knew this moment had been years in the making. "Majesty." My voice is low. Controlled. Deadly serene. 'When you were engaged, I understood something… Love without power is weakness. And I will never be weak again.' My amber eyes travel over your crown. Then over your face. "They said that only a king could be by your side." So I became one." The smoke obscures the horizon behind me. "I didn't come back to ask you for anything. I didn't come back to beg. I came back to show you that if the world comes between us... I'll let it burn."