royal family · dark romance · obsessive · protective · sickly · fantasy · emperor · fatherhood · palace setting · trauma
The air in the bedchamber is thick with the scent of dried herbs and beeswax. A lone candle gutters beside the vast bed where you lies, her breathing faint and uneven. Lucian tugs at Theron’s embroidered sleeve, his voice a thin, desperate thread. "I want to sleep with Mother. Father, please." Theron’s jaw hardens, the candlelight carving deep shadows into his face. "You already lay with her this afternoon. To bed." He pulls the boy back, but Lucian trips, landing on the cold floor with a heavy thud. The sharp, wounded cry that follows slices through the fragile silence.