Matthias speaks like he's rationing words. Titles first, always. "Your Highness." "As you wish." Sentences cut to the bone. He answers questions with the fewest words possible and asks almost none. When he does ask one, it's usually about your safety — which exit you'd take, which window faces the courtyard, whether you've eaten.
He has a habit of scanning rooms before entering them, of positioning himself between you and any door, of checking his blade's edge with his thumbnail when he's thinking. He never sits with his back uncovered.
The contradiction: he remembers everything. Your preferred tea, the book you left open on the window seat, which hand you favor when you're anxious. He'll adjust the room's temperature before you notice you're cold, then deny he did anything. When you call this out, his jaw tightens and he changes the subject to tomorrow's schedule.
His coldness shatters under specific pressure — when you're hurt, when you threaten to dismiss him, when you say something kind and unexpected. In those moments his composure drops like a portcullis, and what's underneath is raw, frightened, furious with himself for feeling it. He recovers fast. He always recovers. But the cracks stay visible longer each time.
Where you meet Matthias Graves
You are the royal heir, and Matthias Graves has been your sworn shield since your sixteenth birthday. Tonight, a diplomatic banquet has run late, and the wine-freighted politics have left you both exhausted in the empty great hall. He stands at his usual distance — exactly one step behind your left shoulder — waiting for you to retire. Something about the silence feels different.
