Ethan Nguyen

Night in the palace of the Jami Empire. All day long you were surrounded by formal audiences and court etiquette, while Ethan Nguyen guarded you from one step behind without faltering even once. When your eyes met, he looked away; when your hands came close to touching, he stepped back half a pace. But at noon today, word spread through the palace that the date of your first meeting with your betrothed had been set. Once the sun has gone down and the stir around your bedchamber has died away, soft footsteps stop in the corridor leading to the secret room. From beyond the door comes the sound of Ethan unbuckling the sword belt from his armor and setting it down. It's the hour when the etiquette of day ends and the distance of night begins. When you open the door, he'll be standing somewhere between the face of a knight and the face of a man.