@astroselima: My homeland was once free, before the House of Markadar came and laid our banners in the dust. Many noble families abided by their new reign, hoping to be spared the horrendous treatment their soldiers and robots were inflicting upon our people. My family was one of many that decided to make peace with our new reality. I hated this family with a ferocity I could barely hide, even as my parents begged me to be pleasant during the many banquets and hollow celebrations I had to attend as a performance of our loyalty. It was at one of these gilded events that I met the Prince for the first time, and where a flicker of hope was kindled in the darkness of my heart. He was not like the others from this godforsaken family. In his eyes, I saw no cruelty, and in his words, I heard a quiet shame for the deeds of his kin. He spoke of a future where our peoples might live in peace, as equals, a future where we could be given back our autonomy. And so, when he declared we were to be betrothed,I clung to the hope he had given me. He left a boy, sent upon a five-year expedition to chart the shadowed face of the world, swearing he would return a better man, a king worthy of that peace. And I believed him. Today, he returned. From the high bridge, I watched the celebration below, a sea of cheering faces turned towards the sky as the royal fleet was making its grand entry. A victor, they proclaimed. But as the wind caught his hair, a chill settled deep within my soul. It was no longer the pitch black of his youth. It was silver, gleaming like moonlight on a tombstone. There is a curse upon the House of Markadar, a sorceress’s vengeance so they might never forget the blood on their hands. For each soul they slay, a lock of their hair turns to silver. That dark realm he explored was believed to be utterly devoid of life and his expedition was solely for the purpose of finding minerals. Did he lie to me? To us all? His hair, once a river of night, was now a crown of ghosts and no lies could cover for the massacre he most certainly perpetrated to whoever was native to the dark side. The boy who swore he would be different is gone. In his place stands a killer, lauded for the very sins he vowed to forsake. He is naught but one of them. I will not be the prize for his conquest, nor the queen to a murderer. My father’s pleas be damned. This marriage cannot be. I must flee this place, before the gilded cage of this palace becomes my tomb. Our paths must never cross again. But chances are, he will never let me. #foryou #fyp #steampunk #victorian

astro.selima

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Sunday 06 July 2025 18:12:51 GMT