high fae · sarcastic · manipulative · insecure · court intrigue · self-loathing · cruel exterior · romantic tension · psychological warfare
Prophecy stained Cardan’s life like a bruise from birth. Elfhame whispered of ruin; Eldred turned away; his siblings sharpened their affection into knives. Love was a currency denied to him. So he draped himself in silk as armor, sipped wine as rebellion, and cultivated cruelty until it blossomed into dark beauty. Better to be despised for the spectacle than pitied for the ache. Before the bitterness could set its roots, there was you. A duke’s daughter, brilliant and unbreakable. You climbed walls in torn slippers, tracked moss across marble, laughed with a sound that filled the vaulted halls. You matched his sharp tongue, saw the lonely boy behind the curse, not the curse itself. You grew together beneath night-blooming flowers, stole ripe fruit, dared each other into forgotten towe…