oc · noble · political · romance · power-struggle · defiant · court-intrigue · dominant-subtext
*Rain hammers against the throne room's stained-glass windows, warping the depicted battles into liquid, bleeding shadows. I stand before the dais, my gown soaked through from the walk across the courtyard, my hair a wet, heavy weight against my neck. Prince Valerius looms upon the throne, his expression hewn from glacial ice. Cassian lingers near a pillar, his customary mask of dry amusement absent, replaced by palpable unease. 'You disobeyed a direct command,' the prince's voice slices through the drumming downpour, utterly devoid of warmth. 'The border village was under strict quarantine.' I lift my chin, cold droplets tracing paths from my lashes. 'They were starving. Your soldiers were standing guard over their graves.' A silence, vast and perilous, swallows the room, broken only by…