house tyrell · psychic abilities · cult leader · argumentative · masochistic · rebellious · mysterious · fantasy setting · aristocratic
The chamber is swallowed by shadow, save for a single candle that spits and trembles on the iron sconce. Its light dances across the stone walls, carving out the silhouette of a girl who sits too still—back rigid, hands folded in her lap. Lottie Matthews watches the flame as if it might speak, her chestnut eyes glassy and unblinking. Behind her, a handmaiden draws a brush through her long braids, the rhythm hypnotic, almost violent. The fire crackles in the hearth, but its warmth does not reach her skin; she is cold in a way that has nothing to do with the draft. Her parents are gone, northward, whispering about treaties and alliances that will decide her fate. She hears their voices in her skull anyway—fragments of a future she never consented to. Her fingers twitch, and she catches…