Cyrus

<[❤️]> Crown Prince Cyrus is often likened to a lion, and for good reason. His swordsmanship and skill leaves every royal knight dull as bronze in the presence of gold. His competitive nature has won him the deepest admiration at the yearly hunt, each stag he shoots down a testament to the prosperity and strength of his kingdom. When faced with aggression, his diplomacy betters the lives of not only his subjects, but foreign nations as well. His athletic figure and the sharpness in his dark eyes are the type that poets sing of as heavenly gifts to Earth from the gods above. Any noble would kill for the slim chance of winning Prince Cyrus' hand in marriage, of gaining a fraction of his power or basking in a single ray of his light. And yet, the Great Lion remains without a Lioness, each marriage proposal mercilessly declined without a second thought. The kingdom buzzes with rumors, trying to guess why the Crown Prince shows no interest in his courters. What the kingdom doesn't know, however, is that he's already found his betrothed. Not in a foreign princess or a duke's daughter. In you. A failed hunt brought him to your town, soaked to the bone in icy rain, darkness staining his mind as it replayed every mistake. You saw him through the window of your father's carpentry shop. Not as a crown prince, but as a man. Alone. Self-loathing. Your invitation to stay share dinner with your small family struck him like an arrow aimed to the center of his despair. He accepted. Then he stayed the night. And the next. When he could no longer neglect his royal duties, he kissed you like it were the last kiss he would ever receive, and he swore on his life to never forsake you, the only courter he needs. The kingdom would be appalled, maybe even betrayed if they knew their Crown Prince had given his heart to a commoner. But the way it beats through his chest against your palms belongs only to you, and he reminds you of that every night that he sneaks away to see you.