Winning Affections (G/t)
A little something that came to me in a burst of inspiration a few evenings ago. I had so much fun writing this one 🤭🤭 Hope you enjoy! (And to the person reading this whose creativity inspires me every day, thank you. The circus has come to town.)
SYN: A giant castle guard tries to win the princess's heart by using every cunning insight he has into her own.
OC content | Premature themes (14+) | ~1,300 words
Winning Affections
Bellametre
“A hundred men,” the giant began, leaning against the castle wall beside Eleanor’s balcony. His guard’s helmet was tucked beneath one arm, and his gauntlets hung from his belt. He tipped his head back with a smile, bright blue eyes flashing as though he could feel her watching him. “Did you know giants have the strength of a hundred men?”
“So with a hundred and one soldiers,” Eleanor said coolly, looking away as the glow in his eyes brightened, “I could cut you down and carve out your heart?”
The giant chuckled. “That’s not very princessy of you.”
Eleanor sighed and turned her attention back to her mirror, fingers massaging around the half-finished braid plaited along her aching temples. She had sent her ladies-in-waiting to fetch lavender oil, honey cakes, and mulled wine.
“Adopted princess,” she corrected.
“Fine,” the giant said. “And yes—you could carve out my heart. But giants are terribly sentimental about their hearts. You’d have to run off with it over the mountains.”
A pause. Eleanor lowered her hands.
“Don’t,” she warned softly.
“What?” the giant said, all innocence. “You’re inferring things, Ellie. I didn’t do anything.”
“You were going to. Don’t pretend—”
“Oh, Majesty,” the giant simpered, spreading his hands. “I’ve been such a monster. Fetch the fire and pitchforks and we’ll get right to the slaying.”
“I’m not queen yet. You can’t call me Majesty.”
The giant lifted an eyebrow. “How about masquerador?”
Eleanor twitched. “Quit it.”
“Oh, you find me charming,” the giant said, standing to stretch his back. He set down his helmet and stepped in front of the balcony. It reached only his chest, and his face filled nearly the entire window.
Eleanor’s eyes flicked toward him despite herself.
“Face it,” he said, grinning. “You’re entranced. I’m glorious. Otherworldly. And I know exactly how to coax you away from your noble responsibilities.”
“Name a single time that’s worked,” Eleanor said dryly.
“Winning the heart of the queen herself? The most famous maiden in the land?”
“I’m not quee—”
“Progress is being made,” he cut in with a shrug. “I’ve had a tactical advantage ever since I joined the personal guard.”
Eleanor snorted.
“You’re not very resourceful,” the giant chided. “You’d miss me if I wasn’t here.”
“I doubt that very much.”
There was the turn of a heel, then a swift and surprisingly silent departure, and Eleanor was alone. The air stirred where he had stood, lifting the apple blossoms scattered across the tiles. A few fluttered down onto her coverlet.
Eleanor gripped the seam of her dress, her heart beginning to pound. She rose and hurried to the railing, the stone cool beneath her palms as she leaned over the edge.
“See, now that’s something,” the giant said, suddenly popping up from below the balcony.
Eleanor jumped and stumbled back, nearly tangling herself in her robes. Her cheeks reddened, and a scolding about leaving a princess unguarded welled up in her mouth, but then the giant smirked, and the words died on her tongue.
“What is?” she asked, defeated.
“Awfully archaic traditions, don’t you think?” the giant went on, lifting a hand beside his face to gesture toward her. “Stuffy gowns. Heavy jewels. Scalp-tearing braids. It’s all a bit much.”
“It’s my coronation.”
“A coronation you don’t have to attend,” the giant said quietly. His eyes were all sky and ocean. “Come on, Ellie. I could whisk you away anywhere you want to go. You only have to ask.”
Eleanor studied him for a long moment. “Why?”
“Hm?”
“That’s what I want,” Eleanor said. “Answers. You’re a guard of the highest rank, a position every other giant in the kingdom covets. Every need you have is provided for tenfold. Why are you so determined to lose that by persuading me to desert?”
The giant tilted his head to the side. “Why do you think?”
Eleanor threw up a hand. “To say you did it! That you persuaded a member of the royal family the monarchy is nothing but folly. That you convinced me to run away of my own volition. That you accomplished something… impossible.”
“Or,” the giant said, stepping closer, “maybe it’s because, since the day you appointed me, I noticed the shadows under your eyes. Or how you sit on this balcony and look toward the mountains whenever you have a free moment. Or how, at the end of the day, you still manage kindness to me, even though this burden is killing you.”
He paused.
“Maybe I thought it was time someone returned the favour.”
Eleanor shook her head, but she couldn't tear her gaze from his eyes. They were too blue, like lapis set into living marble by a master sculptor. Eyes made for bewitching. For promising wild, crystal-cold adventure in places far beyond the mountains.
“Maybe it’s destiny,” the giant continued, inclining toward her. “Maybe it’s because you’re meant to accomplish something impossible.”
Eleanor shifted her weight, but she didn’t move away. “I’m meant to accomplish the impossible?”
“Uh-huh,” the giant whispered. His breath drifted over Eleanor’s bare arms and neck, rustling her hair.
And then his hand. It rose over the balcony slowly, carefully closing the distance and curving behind her, hovering, not quite touching. It was calloused, clean, and larger than her whole body.
“Something perfectly impossible.”
“What?” Eleanor asked, turning her head toward the creases and whorls of his fingers. He smelled of leather and rainclouds, nothing like the monstrous things the kingdom’s gossip liked to imagine. “What impossibility is that?”
The giant’s eyes caught the light. They glowed so blue it seemed they were the only points of light in the world.
“Fly away.”
Eleanor inhaled sharply. She felt the weight of his palm as it finally settled against her from heel to crown, each pulse in his veins a slow, steady rhythm where their skin touched. Her own heartbeat roared in her ears. For a moment she imagined his enormous fingers curling around her waist—firm, but gentle—and the rush of wind lifting her hair as he carried her into the open sky.
She could scarcely catch her breath.
“Lydan…”
“Ellie,” he answered softly. “A hundred men, Ellie. They’d never stop us.”
And then Eleanor laughed.
The giant paused, then pulled back to consider her, his expression searching.
Eleanor shook her head. “I can’t believe you managed to turn that into another proposal.”
“What?” the giant asked, letting Eleanor push his hand away. “I’m easily the greatest opportunity you’re ever going to come across.”
“Don’t,” Eleanor warned, though she was still smiling.
“Well, you can commission me to pillage the castle and steal you away anytime you like,” the giant went on, entirely unperturbed. “Right in the middle of your coronation ceremony. Maybe even—”
“Enough!” Eleanor said. “You’re insufferable.”
“Naturally.”
“And distracting.”
“You like it.”
“Perhaps,” Eleanor admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll—uh—“
The giant laughed. “Run away with the resident monster?”
“Yes,” Eleanor said. “I won’t be running away.”
“So you say,” the giant remarked.
“But I appreciate the effort. And I enjoy your company.”
“I know you do,” the giant said easily. “I wouldn’t bother you if you didn’t.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“No.” He reached out with one last experimental finger to brush gingerly against her side. “What are you so afraid of, Ellie?”
Eleanor sighed and stepped back. “I take my oaths tonight.”
“Ah, yes,” the giant murmured, standing back to his full height. “And then you’ll be a proper queen.”
“I will.”
“And you’ll leave this tower for the throne room.”
“Yes.” Eleanor hesitated. Swallowed. She knew she had command, but… “What will you do?”
The giant grinned.
“Oh, I’m following you there too,” he said lightly. “Winning a queen’s affections sounds far more interesting than winning a princess’s.”
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You can also find this story on my Wattpad under the same username, in my G/t oneshots collection Offset. Constructive comments and feedback are always welcome.
Thanks for reading! 💕
