His royal duty was to protect the crown.

He would follow that until the day he died.

Even if it meant ignoring his growing feelings towards Princess Cove.

Being her personal guard meant he saw her at her best moments and her darkest ones. How could he not fall for her. She is the shining sun as opposed to his cool night. Exuding warmth, she just draws you in. Tou can’t but like her.

But he was her guard. He could never be more than her friend. Feelings clouded the mind and he needed to stay alert. He needed to be ice cold. Not verbally but mentally. He needed to block any feelings.

His duty was to protect her, not to love her.

“Thorne, what do you think of my parents’ rule?” Cove asks, gazing at him with those emerald eyes.

“Which rule, princess?”

“You know which one. Don’t play dumb. We both know you’re no such thing. And no princess title when we’re alone!” The lightness in her tone made him smile.

“Cove, you know it is inappropriate for me to discuss the queen and king’s laws with you. Those are the rules I abide by.”

“Stop being so formal.” To anyone else, it may sound like an order, but he knew her. She was voicing her feelings about how he interacted with her, expressing her dislike for it. She would rather him not, but it isn’t an order. As the kind soul she is, she would never use her position with him.

Technically, he doesn’t have to take orders from her anyway. He takes them from the General or the queen and king. But it is the soldier in him that has him wanting to follow her (and his love for her has nothing to do with that).

He still does not respond.

“Thorne, I want to hear your thoughts. Not as a guard of Allaver, but as my friend.”

Her smile is radiant, the sun grinning directly at him.

With her sunrays of warmth, he feels himself thaw.