He didn't know when it had changed. When the bullying, the pranks, everything had changed. When they were no longer meant simply to put a foolish woman in the place she belonged, but to put her in a place where he could get her.
He didn't know when his hate had changed to love.
He had learned that she would not leave, no matter what he did, and hoped that maybe he could make her fall in love with him. And then he could have her.
He had tried to befriend her, but somehow it had never worked. He had never even touched her, except early on, when his fists connected with her face and broke her nose or blackened her eye. Once, he had been close enough to reach out and touch her hair. She had noticed, but he was already leaving by that time. She probably didn't even know it had been him.
He watched her crush on him, and the other man's courtship of her, though they did not end up together. And he hoped that maybe once he had his knighthood, she'd look at him in a different light.
It was with this hope that he entered the chamber, and it was this hope that killed him. You see, when the chamber showed him her, saying how much she hated him and would never be able to stand him, his heart was shattered, and he gave up hope of life.
Of course, some would debate whether Joren of Stone Mountain ever really had a heart.
And a new story. Are you shocked? I actually wrote this quite a while, and happened upon it, so I decided to upload it. Even more shockingly, I like it.