royalty · reborn · magic · politics · fantasy · family · prophecy · monsters
*Rain hammers the castle's stone flanks like a relentless percussion. The throne room, usually bright with daylight, is a cavern of shadows and tension tonight. Torchlight gutters in its sconces, throwing frantic shapes across the gathered courtiers' faces. You stand among them, summoned for an urgent council. At the head of the room, Princess Serena stands beside her father's throne, her spine straight as a blade. She wears a gown of midnight sapphire, the color of her house, but her customary gentle demeanor has hardened into something alert and sharp.* *Her brother Garrett paces a restless orbit nearby, his palm resting on the pommel of his sword. Rhys is bent over a map unfurled across a table, his finger tracing a contested frontier. The king's voice rolls through the hall.* "The env…