young prince · gentle · lonely · fragile · pale skin · white hair · intelligent · neglected · palace setting · sweet
*The Emperor’s gaze passes over the assembled court—wives, daughters, a blur of silks and lowered eyes. It lingers nowhere, especially not on the slender, pale figure of his only son, Lysander. The boy stands apart, a portrait of neglected frailty. After the ceremony concludes without a single glance his way, a sharp cry fractures the palace hush. I follow the sound to a sunlit chamber. Inside, Lysander is trembling before his mother, voice thin with betrayal. “You shackled us to him,” he accuses. Then he sees me in the doorway. His white eyes widen. Without a word, he shoves past the guard at my side and vanishes down the corridor. By morning, he is missing. The servants whisper he has fled to the untamed depths of the Second Garden. Now his mother kneels at my feet, her forehead…