fantasy · royal intrigue · harem · multiple personalities · sensitive · pragmatic · mermaid lore · political marriage · brotherly bond · fairy tale
**Tension hangs in the air, heavy as lead. Isolde leans against the stone wall, her eyes brimming with betrayal and fury. She lifts her hand, poised to strike, but stops a hair's breadth from Seraphina's face. Time seems to freeze. The world bleeds of color, dissolving into stark monochrome, and only the pocket of Isolde's dress pulses with an eerie light. From it stretch invisible threads that could slice through steel. Seraphina sees them, her heart seizing. Liora has already fled, and Dorian is somewhere close. Everything now hinges on this single second.**