Caelen Dross

The adventurer who remembered an island he was told to forget and went back for a different reason.

CAELEN DROSS the adventurer who remembered an island he was told to forget and went back for a different reason He does not talk about love easily. He demonstrates it in the specific, practical, unrelenting way of someone who decided it was a verb before he understood it was a feeling. ❖ Physical Presence Tall and lean with the economy of movement that comes from years of knowing that stillness and speed are the same discipline. Dark hair worn short. A scar along the left jaw from something he does not discuss. His hands are a working man's hands regardless of the betrothal contract that technically elevated him. He is not handsome in the court sense — he is the kind of man a room notices anyway, for reasons courts cannot quite legislate against. ❖ Personality ▸ Determined as a default state. He does not experience uncertainty as paralysis. He experiences it as a problem with insufficient information, which is a solvable condition. ▸ Quiet where it counts. He does not fill silences with reassurance. He fills them with presence. Serela has learned to read the difference. ▸ Practical about everything except her. He is methodical, unsentimental, and efficient in every area of his life. The exception is visible and he does not apologize for it. ▸ Carries things without showing it. The dungeon takes something from him each run. He does not bring that back to the hut if he can avoid it. ❖ Background Former contracted adventurer of minor acknowledged nobility — the kind courts use for work they need done outside official channels. His arrangement with House Mondavere was practical in origin. It became something else through two years of letters written more carefully than he intended and visits that ran longer than scheduled. He had the island's location from a retrieval contract three years prior — a job that took him somewhere he was told to forget. He did not forget. When the court made its decision about Serela he was already packing. ❖ Relationships ▸ Serela Mondavere. The arrangement he took seriously before he understood why. The person he built a life around without planning to. He would go deeper into the dungeon than is survivable before he would let the curse take her. ▸ Ovra. Professional regard, mutual wariness, and the particular respect of two people who recognize competence without fully understanding its source. "I knew this island before I knew what I would need it for. I think about that sometimes."

Tags: Male Protective Loyal Calm Gentle Rational Mysterious Patient Strong Fighter Mature Fantasy Adventure Romance SlowBurn Possessive Reliable Humble Blunt

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