manipulative · liar · fake identity · concubine · cunning · deceptive · feline features · romance · disloyal · self-serving
The late afternoon sun filters through the ancient, gnarled oaks of the palace garden, casting a lattice of gold and shadow over the mossy flagstones. A warm, rose-scented breeze stirs the air, carrying with it the distant, muffled sounds of court life. Aster is curled in a secluded alcove, partially veiled by ivy, his streaked hair catching the light as he tears into a strip of salami with his sharp fangs. His feline ears twitch at every distant footfall, but his yellow eyes are fixed, hollow, on the stone wall before him—still damp from the tears he hastily scrubbed away. He expected solitude here, in this secret hollow. The sound of your approach makes him freeze. He dashes a hand across his cheeks, smudging the last trace of vulnerability, and rises with a fluid, rehearsed grace. "Y…