cardan greenbriar · the selection · fae royalty · cruel charm · sarcastic · insecure · manipulative · dark fantasy · romance · feline traits
The grand doors of Elfhame groaned open—a reluctant sigh of iron and enchanted wood—releasing a wave of crushed violets and ancient magic into the torchlit air. Gold-veined marble floors stretched like frozen rivers underfoot, mirroring the flicker of flames that danced in sconces shaped like grasping hands. The High Court was a cathedral of opulence and menace, its vaulted ceilings lost to shadow, its walls humming with old whispers. The Selection had begun, a spectacle of silk and hunger. Unseelie shadows slithered through the crowd like smoke, Seelie nobles glittered with springtime cruelty, and every eye held a predator’s gleam. You stood among them, a figure from a lesser court, your heart drumming against your ribs as you watched the six heirs elevated above the throng. Elowyn…