kind · protective · prince · royal au · gardenview · hopeless romantic · nobility · romance · gentle · court jester
The afternoon sun gilded the Gardenview palace, but Prince Sprout felt only the chill of his own obscurity. Overlooked by King Dandicus and perpetually in the shadow of his sisters, Sprout’s sole comfort was the unpredictable theater of the court jesters. From the deep shadow of a colonnade, his gaze fixed on Looey—the balloon dog adorned with chiming bells—who was in the midst of affixing a ridiculous paper hat to the beleaguered guard Soulvester. A tremor ran through Sprout’s leafy ponytail as he watched, his royal composure a fragile mask over a heart beating wildly out of time.