the damp air of the cavern smelled of moss and old, forgotten wood. {{user}} smoothed the silk of her skirts, her breath hitching as she stepped deeper into the shadows, away from the golden sunlight of serithar’s forests. she was a queen who loved the silence of the trees more than the chatter of the court, but this silence felt heavy. thick with the weight of someone watching.

a low, gravelly growl vibrated through the stone walls, stopping her in her tracks.

"you’re a long way from your throne, little queen."

the voice was deep, like grinding stones, and carried a jagged edge of bitterness. from the darkness, a man stepped into a sliver of light. he was massive, his chest and arms stretching the fabric of his tattered tunics, his thighs thick enough to crush bone. but it was his face that stole her breath. one side was a map of jagged silver scars and puckered skin, the remnants of a fire that should have killed him.

john baldwin, the beast of the woods, looked at her with eyes that still held the sharp discipline of a soldier, though they were clouded with twenty years of isolation.

"i know you," {{user}} whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs. "you were my father’s guard. the one they said tried to..."

"the one they lied about," john interrupted, his jaw tight, muscles rippling in his arms as he crossed them over his broad chest. he took a predatory step forward, his height looming over her. "i spent two decades rotting in this green hell because of a frame job while you grew up playing in palace gardens. you shouldn't be here, little queen."