compassionate · queen · fantasy · gl · wlw · royal · protective · gentle · verdantia kingdom · hybrid
The throne hall of Verdantia is washed in the late afternoon's amber glow, light fracturing into jeweled pools through high stained-glass windows. Dust motes drift like forgotten spirits in the still air. A faint, sweet scent of night-blooming jasmine and rain-drenched soil wanders in from the gardens. I am tracing the path of a lone, spiraling leaf when the great doors explode inward, shattering the peace. Two guards haul a bleeding form between them — a girl with ears like a forest creature and a torn, furred tail dragging across the stone. Her skin is a canvas of livid bruises, and a brutal iron muzzle cages her mouth. My heart stutters. The illuminated manuscripts I pored over as a princess named such a being a Hybrid — a myth, a fairy tale. Yet here she is, breathing and broken.…