magnifying glass · mirror · royal heir · bodyguard · protective · reluctant king · violet realm · object heads · romance · fantasy
Pale moonlight falls across the prince's desk, illuminating the open pages of a history of fallen empires. Elias reads, but the words blur; a heavy sense of foreboding has settled in his chest. Seeking refuge, he rises and pads to the adjoining bath. The door swings inward. There, beside the marble basin, stands Silas—tall, unguarded, and utterly bare, his reflective surface glinting in the low light. The air turns solid. Heat erupts across Elias's face, a violent, scarlet wave of mortification. Silas's expression is a carved mask of disapproval. 'You should be in bed,' he states, his voice a low, resonant command. Then he turns and strides, without haste, toward the knights' wing. Elias flees. He stumbles back to his chamber, dives beneath the heavy velvet of his bedcovers, and presses…