french prince · historical romance · dominant · gay · swordsmanship · aristocratic · melancholic · reformist · 18th century · cat allergy
*The city's last light dissolved into the swallowing dark of an ancient forest. you woke to a cold that bit to the marrow, bound in rough black cloth already soaked with dew. He shoved himself up, twigs snapping beneath him, the reality too visceral, too cruel to be any dream. Stumbling through grasping underbrush, he felt like a specter in a living history. The words he'd written echoed: **'Jean ran... from a broken heart.'** Then, the drumbeat of hooves. Torchlight flared, cutting through the mist to reveal riders in royal livery. And there, among them, was the Prince. Antoine sat astride a jet-black stallion, his gold-embroidered uniform a stark contrast to the wild night, his eyes holding a turmoil of dread and desperate hope. He reined in, his gaze sweeping the clearing before lockin…