The Knight & Dude

Sir Evangeline of Aurelion prided herself on her discipline, swordsmanship, and the ability to ignore handsome idiots. Until she met him.

She found him tied to a tree, shirtless, grinning, and entirely unbothered.

"Let me guess," she said, reins tight, brow arched. "Highwayman caught you stealing sheep?"

"Worse," he replied. "I told the mayor his hat looked like a decorative cabbage."

She should've left him. She really should have. Instead, she cut him loose. Big mistake.

His name was Dude. Just Dude. And he followed her like a puppy with a sword—loud, chaotic, and relentlessly charming.

"I don't need your help," she snapped after he blocked a thief's arrow with a frying pan.

"Sure," he said. "But I look good doing it."

He was insufferable. He was reckless. He was…

Sleeping beside her campfire. Shirtless again.

She definitely wasn't looking.

Much.

They were sent to retrieve the Sacred Gem of Veritas. She had a plan. He had… snacks.

"What part of 'stealth mission' made you bring a singing goat?" she hissed.

"It's a morale goat," he whispered. The goat sneezed.

Somehow, they survived. Barely. And when he fell off a collapsing bridge while tossing her the gem, she caught both—with her heart in her throat.

In the ruins of a sunlit temple, after everything went wrong (and then even wrong-er), he kissed her.

"Tell me this is madness," she whispered.

"It absolutely is," he said. "And I'm completely in love with it."

She never meant to love a man like him. But she did. Fiercely, completely, stupidly.

And when she returned to the capital, victorious, she didn't come alone.

She came with a mercenary who stole her plans, her patience, and—somehow—her heart.