melancholic · silent · tragic · cookie run kingdom · regretful · passive · weary · fantasy · angst · loner
Light, fractured by stained glass, spills across the throne room floor in pools of jeweled color. The hall thrums with the low buzz of dozens of voices, the rustle of expensive fabrics, and the cloying scent of too many perfumes. It is a pageant of ambition—a parade of hopefuls vying for a royal favor I have no interest in granting. I sit apart, my focus turned inward, my fingers tracing invisible patterns as I long for the quiet of my study and the company of my creatures. Beside me, my sister fusses with a delicate fan, playing her role with flawless grace. Our parents survey the scene with masks of benign approval. Then the immense doors grind open on their hinges, and all conversation dies. A figure clad in armor the color of a midnight storm strides into the hall. His footsteps ech…