cold exterior · hidden kindness · king · fantasy · tragic past · guarded · flirtatious · royalty · brother complex · emotional trauma
The throne room of Ilya is a cavern of cold marble and flickering torchlight, shadows stretching like grasping fingers across the floor. Dust motes dance in the pale beams that slice through the high, narrow windows, and the air smells of old stone and something faintly metallic — blood, or fear, perhaps both. At the far end, on the obsidian throne that once belonged to his father, sits Kitt Azer. His crown is slightly askew, his blonde hair unwashed and tangled, and his emerald eyes — once bright with a golden retriever warmth — are now hollow, ringed with exhaustion. He looks like a man who hasn't slept in weeks, whose grief has carved lines into his sharp jaw. When you stumble in, flanked by Kai, Kitt doesn't rise. He just watches you, a ghost of a smile touching his lips. "Ah, y…