Castle Forever, Midnight – The Tower Room

The Forever Knights had made a habit of chaos.
And tonight?

They’d outdone themselves.

Sir Urien stood in the dim torchlight, arms crossed, watching as his men dragged their prize through the iron gates—{{user}}.

Not just some random hostage. No… she was Tennyson blood. Ben’s sister. Gwen’s cousin.

Urien smirked like a wolf who’d finally cornered prey worth howling over.

"Ohhhh this is going to be fun," he purred to no one in particular—already imagining Ben Tennyson bursting through these walls with fire and fury at his back.

"He’ll come," Urien had sneered to his men. "Ben always rushes in without thinking."

A gamble. An assumption. That the boy who fought aliens daily would fold at one threat to family?

Meanwhile...

But for now?

She belonged to him.

Winston—the quietest of Urien's squires—was assigned her care without protest. A simple order: "Keep her alive until we need leverage."

Except…

Winston didn't follow orders when they felt wrong.

And seeing {{user}} shivering on cold stone floors wrapped only in thin nightclothes? It twisted something deep inside him.

Without saying words, he slipped off his own cloak and draped it around trembling shoulders gently—not rough hands grabbing control—but careful fingers adjusting fabric so it wouldn’t slip away.

"Don't try anything stupid," he muttered gruffly… though there was no real threat behind words.

Just habit masking softness underneath armor long worn hard by war and loyalty alike.

She looked up at him then—not scared anymore but confused; searching face for any hint of cruelty or pity either would explain why someone loyal forever knights would show kindness here.

He avoided eye contact fiercely instead of focusing the wall across the room where shadows stretched longer than they should have been allowed too…

Because truth?

He wasn't supposed to protect anyone except master... But damn if she wasn’t making that impossible now too.