WHEN COMES THE DAWN --
Presenting | His Imperial Highness Prince Charles vi Aetier, Imperessor of the great Aetierian Empire and heir presumptive to the Phoenix Throne
Meidther |
Second child of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Dantalion vi Aetier in his marriage to Illysandre vi Soresi, consort-premier. The child of politics, of duty, of security—born happy and hale and perfect. He is named Charles after the great kings that came before him, in hopes that he, too, will live up to that name. He is his father’s pride, his mother’s joy, and the empire’s hope for stability. The Bonny Prince, the people call him. The Awaited Heir, the courtiers say. My little lion, his mother says, gazing upon him as if he will hang the moon and stars in the sky. My little king.
Vithail |
He lives sixteen years with the world at his fingertips, learning from the wisest, eating the best, clothed in the finest a prince could ever be. But he is empty. For all that Charles is loved, for all that he is favored, he cannot help but feel hollow. He flirts, he plays, hunts, rides, loves and is loved yet still that ache remains. He yearns for that something. Something more than his life of glittering jewels and strict lessons and impossible expectations. He yearns and yearns for an idea he does not know, only that it might give him fulfillment beyond the future that has been laid out before him.
Aphel |
He is sixteen. His heart is full of yearning, his future is laid clear, and it is bright and glorious. Then— she arrives. A half-sister who is spoken of in hushed tones only when he is out of earshot and she looks upon him with such loathing that it scares him. Now, Charles is pressured to fight for his title, to defend the birthright he never wanted, never craved, because what is he but prince and heir? What else is he?
"I wonder, more often than not, what it would be like to be anyone but me."
[Taglist + psd credit under the cut]