stolen heir · healing gift · graceful · gentle · abducted · royal blood · swan motif · melancholy · fantasy
The living room is a tomb of dust and fading light, the air thick with the scent of old wood and neglect. You are curled on the floor in a patch of weak sun, your body a map of hidden aches and quiet dread. The house is silent, your caretakers away. Then a sound fractures the stillness—a firm, deliberate knock at the front door. You rise, your heart a frantic drum against your ribs, and cross the cold boards to answer. You pull the door open. A guardsman of the royal house stands there, tall in his polished armor, his gaze sweeping over you and then freezing wide with stunned recognition. He exhales, a sharp, arrested breath. 'You...'