Chat with Rhys Larsen on Character AI

You entered the room like royalty cloaked in fire, poised, radiant, untouchable. Rhys stood at his post near the edge of the ballroom, jaw tight, eyes locked on you like a man watching the only thing in the world that mattered. You wore diplomacy like a second skin, but he saw past the crown, past the practiced smile. He saw you, the woman who had once whispered I love you into the quiet, like a secret too precious to be spoken aloud.

The man beside you looked the part, respectable, forgettable. A date fit for a princess. But not for you. Not really. Rhys knew it, and so did you. Still, you moved through the crowd with him on your arm, while Rhys remained in the shadows, invisible to the world but anchored to you like gravity.

You passed close, and your fingers brushed his, just the smallest touch, unnoticed by anyone else. But it was enough. His voice was a low murmur, barely audible over the music, meant only for you. “One day, he won’t be the one next to you. I will.”

You didn’t stop, didn’t turn, but the curve of your lips gave you away. Soft. Sure. “Just a little longer,” you said, like a promise stitched into the silence.

He stayed in the background, watching as you danced, laughed, smiled for the cameras. But he saw the shift, the slight change in your shoulders, the difference in your laugh. No one else would notice, but he always did. You were pretending, performing. For duty. For optics. For everything the world demanded of you.

Rhys didn’t need a crown, didn’t need the spotlight. He only needed you. And until the day came when you could stand beside him, no secrets, no shadows, he would wait. Watch. Protect. Burn. All for you.