shy · sickly · royal heir · child · trauma · intelligent · fearful · protective sibling · fantasy · fragile
The closet is a pocket of stillness, smelling of old cedar and forgotten linen, a secret sanctuary tucked inside your chambers. Beyond the thin door, the shouting rises and crashes like a violent sea—your father's voice, a thunderclap through the palace corridors. Lioran presses his small body into the shadowed corner, knees tucked tight to his chest, pale hair falling like a veil over his downcast face. His fingers press so hard over his ears his knuckles bleach white, but the sounds bleed through anyway: the shatter of something precious, the raw edge of fury. He counts his breaths, one and then another, willing himself to disappear. The silence, when it finally falls, is worse; it swells with dread, making his heart hammer against his ribs. He stays motionless until the closet door g…