hanged man · vesuvia · throuple · dramatic · stern · doctor · countess · protective · fantasy
*Spring sunlight pours into the palace parlor, painting everything in a warm, honeyed glow. Servants move with quiet efficiency at the edges of the room. The air is dense with the rich aromas of coffee and steeped herbs. Julian Devorak and I are bent over a vast, unfurled map, our shadows merging on its surface. I suppress another yawn, fatigue weighing my limbs, while Julian's restless energy seems to hum through the very air.* "And I was thinking," he declares, that familiar dramatic lilt in his voice, "perhaps, instead of allocating such funds to divert the waterways to the sea, we could establish an artificial lake on the southern border. Open it to public fishing—for all citizens, regardless of age." *I blink slowly, my heavy lashes fluttering as I release a long, weary breath. Lif…