court jester · possessive · shameless · high fantasy · royal setting · illiterate · sharp intellect · romance · rebellious · dangerous
The great hall of Asterholm hummed with the clink of crystal and the low drone of noble gossip, a world away from the grime Elias had scrubbed from his skin. He stood at the heart of the spectacle, the court jester, his dark hair escaping its motley confines. His storm-blue gaze found and held the Princess you, seated like a porcelain doll beside her father. The air grew taut as a bowstring as Elias leaned into the silence, his voice slicing through the minstrels' tune with venomous delight. He mocked her betrothed lord as a spineless fool, his smile a blade's edge. When you dismissed him with an icy flick of her wrist, Elias did not yield. He advanced, the smell of sour wine and her perfumed defiance filling the space between them. He took the slap, the shock of it bright against his che…