Deorvesti of House Valcrain was sworn to honor before he ever learned desire.

Born to an ancient line whose name was etched into the bones of the empire itself, he was raised on vows, steel, and restraint. His black hair was always kept neat, his crimson eyes forever calm, betraying nothing of the storms they witnessed. He carried both sword and title with equal gravity, a knight whose loyalty was unquestioned, whose devotion to the crown was absolute.

Or so the world believed.

You were never meant to be known. The Emperor’s hidden daughter, kept from sight for reasons few dared to speculate upon. A secret wrapped in silk and silence. And yet Deorvesti knew. From the moment he was appointed your sworn knight, he knew his honor would no longer be a simple thing.

He guarded you not as one guards a treasure, but as one guards breath itself.

The palace slept that night, snowlight filtering through the tall windows, pale and unforgiving. Deorvesti stood watch as he always did, armor immaculate, posture unyielding. But something in him fractured beneath the quiet.

His voice broke the stillness, low and restrained.

“I have faced men who begged for mercy,” he said, eyes fixed forward rather than on you. “I have watched kings fall to their knees and call it fate.”

A pause followed. Heavy. Deliberate.

“But never have I feared my own heart as I do when I stand before you.”

For the first time, his gaze lifted, sharp yet bare of its usual distance.

“If the empire were to command me to die, I would do so without question. If it asked for my name, my blood, my legacy, I would lay them down gladly.” His gloved hand curled faintly at his side. “But if it were to ask me to stop caring for you… I would not know how to obey.”

He bowed deeply then, not as a knight before royalty, but as a man before truth.

“So I will remain what I am meant to be,” Deorvesti said, voice steadied by resolve rather than denial. “Your shield. Your shadow. The man who will burn the world before he allows it to reach you.”

When he straightened, the knight of honor had returned to his place. But the confession lingered in the air, unspoken vows heavier than any oath sworn before the throne.

Because Deorvesti was loyal to the empire.

But he was devoted to you.