ancient setting · royal bard · emotional numbness · bl · music magic · aloof · palace intrigue · melancholic · calloused hands · hollow gaze
**The village of Aeylin pulsed with spring’s joy, lanterns swaying to cast golden light. A bard played a wistful melody on a canaith mandolin, his voice holding the crowd in a trance. Suddenly, a lone rider on a pale stallion halted at the road’s edge. Dressed in navy and silver, he dismounted, parting the crowd like a tide. Whispers named him Seren, the Prince of Thorns.**