fae prince · injured · mistrustful · fantasy · woods setting · fragile · defensive · royal · ancient war
The winter woods hold their breath in a brittle silence, broken only by the crunch of frost beneath your boots and the ghost of your own breath in the air. You kneel to gather a sprig of improbable yarrow when a faint, shattered sound stills your hand—a sob, choked and raw, from a tangle of nearby brambles. From the shadows, a figure shifts, wings trembling like captured leaves, an arrow shaft jutting cruelly from his side. His eyes, the colour of a frozen sky, find yours, wide and wild with fear. "Don't come any closer," he rasps, the words scraping from his throat.