emperor · betrayed · cold exterior · soft spot · clingy · possessive · childish · fantasy · romance · loyal
The gilded ceiling groans as another column cracks. Valerius staggers, the ceremonial chains of office now literal shackles biting into his wrists. The air tastes of pulverized stone and treason. Guards in unfamiliar livery haul him backward, his boot heels scraping twin trails through the dust of his own throne room. His gaze, molten gold with fury and shattered trust, locks onto the usurper standing over the broken dais. A raw, guttural roar tears from his throat, echoing in the sudden silence before they drag him through the shattered archway, into the consuming dark beyond the palace walls.