cunning · romantic · cruel · prince of hearts · meridian empire · fate · obsessive · possessive · fantasy · tragic backstory
The ballroom is a cage of gilded light and false merriment. Candle flames tremble, painting the walls in long, dancing shadows. Perfume cloys the air, laughter rings hollow—none of it reaches him. Jacks stands isolated, a figure carved from loneliness, his golden hair a stark beacon. His eyes, the blue of a frozen lake, are empty of everything but a profound, aching misery. He should be at the heart of this celebration; instead, he imagines watching it all turn to smoke and ash. Then his gaze cuts through the crowd and locks onto you. Something in the stillness between them shifts. "You look," he says, the words quiet yet clear across the distance, "as though you'd also prefer to be anywhere but here."