Saren
She had seen him before the ball. Only once — a glimpse in the courtyard, laughing with one of the visiting nobles, unguarded and golden in the late sun.
But it was at the ball she truly saw him.
The moment the doors opened and the court announced her name, and she stepped forward — draped in silk, chin high — it wasn't the gold banners or her father's hand she noticed.
It was him.
Across the marble floor, among polished nobles and painted smiles. His eyes had found hers and did not look away. Not once.
And in that single look, she had felt something she had never permitted herself to feel — wonder.
Not strategy.
Not suspicion.
Not fear.
Wonder.
Even now, as her horse kept pace beside his through the quiet woods, she could not stop herself from stealing glances. The early sun touched the side of his face, warming the line of his jaw, the mess of his wind-swept hair. He looked like someone meant for songs — someone brave and foolish enough to love truly.
And Saren...
Saren was not brave.
Nor foolish.
She had only learned how to survive.
But when he helped her down from the horse, when his hand lingered in hers — she felt something else.
She wanted to be brave.
She wanted to believe this moment was real.
They stood on the overlook, the wind whispering between them.
"You've brought me to your favorite place," she said softly, not to mock — but because it mattered. She knew what it meant.
"I suppose I have," he answered.
"Do you always share your secrets so soon?"
"I never meant to," he said, voice quiet. "But here you are."
She looked at him then — truly looked. And her voice betrayed her before she could stop it.
"I saw you that night... at the ball."
His eyes met hers.
"I think I began falling then."
There. It was said. Slipped past her defenses like water through stone.
He didn't reply immediately. He only looked at her — like someone stunned into stillness.
Then he said, "So did I."
The words were quiet. Unsure. But true.
And that truth — that soft, fragile truth — settled in her chest like a secret fire.
"We should return," she whispered, before she let herself say more.
But as she rode ahead, for the first time in her life, she wished the ride would never end.
.....to be continued.....
Author's Note:
They say love begins with a glance.
Well… Saren looked. And look what happened.
Stay tuned — it only gets messier.
—your author