Cornelia | 21 | bisexual | Belgian | just a blog about my OCs and whump in general | (sideblog of @cornelia-the-vestal)Â | Glorien: forced to dance for the Emperor | Prince Amyl: the king's pet (discontinued) | Milo: secretary slave | sometimes I post and reblog nsfw stuff |Â Â
The city of Koia is the centre of a mighty Empire. A year since Vasri ascended to the throne, the self-made noble Darren attacks and starts a civil war, with the aid of his two eldest sons. But when Darren’s second son dies in battle, everything goes downhill. When the war is still going on, he commits suicide.
Glorien is Darren’s youngest son. Too young to fight, Glorien stays in Koia, where the Emperor and his family are looking for him. With his older brother still fighting, it is up to Glorien to survive.
-whump, medieval whump, royal whump, dance whump, a ton of characters: be warned-
CW: whump of minor (17 y/o) (until chapter 17), a lot of death, captivity; from chapter 19 on there appears some noncon/dubcon
Part 1
Chapter 1 - The night it went from bad to awful
Chapter 2 - On the streets
Chapter 3 - Homeless
Chapter 4 - Fountain
Chapter 5 - Locked up
Chapter 6 - Dark
Chapter 7 - Mercy
Chapter 8 - Throne room
Chapter 9 - Welcome
Chapter 10 - Lily
Chapter 11 - Respect
Chapter 12 - The unlucky son
Chapter 13 - Exhaustion
Chapter 14 - The chapel
Chapter 15 - Once upon a winter
Chapter 16 - The coward
Chapter 17 - Time
Chapter 18 - Glass
Chapter 19 - The general
Chapter 20 - List
Chapter 21 - Sorrow
Chapter 22 - Damage
Chapter 23 - Jealousy
Chapter 24 - Bloodless
Chapter 25 - Possession
Chapter 26 - Before the ceremony
Chapter 27 - The victor
Chapter 28 - Recalling that night
Chapter 29 - Burial
Chapter 30 - Guilt
Chapter 31 - Market
Part 2
Chapter 32 - Lurking
Chapter 33 - The advisor
Chapter 34 - Trust
Chapter 35 - Concern
Chapter 36 - Lilian
Chapter 37 - Care
Chapter 38 - Offense
Chapter 39 - Rats!
Chapter 40 - Reorientation
Chapter 40.5 - Friend
Chapter 41 - History
Chapter 43 - The satin scarf and the silver bells
Chapter 42 - If you want vengeance
Chapter 44 - The fear that hangs over the city, (part 1), (part 2)
Amazing art by others: (x), (x), (x), (this meme is art), (a pretty moodboard), (x), (x), (Glorien and Holly), (Glorien's poetry), (Glorien and Fish), (moodboard!!), (Glorien’s poetry)
Fanfic where Glorien meets @unicornscotty​‘s Alex (highly recommend giving it a read!): (Part 1), (Part 2)
Just something I wrote and was kind of proud of. It’s about Roman emperor Nero, and a fictional interpretation of his thoughts on the death of his mother Agrippina.
CW: suicide mention, death of mother, sexism, attempt at drowning (briefly discussed), denial, murder, regret, real historical people fic
Drabbles that aren’t really canon: (Marsi is a bad person), (sad Glorien after a party), (sexy times with Feyros), (Glorien hates being drugged), (just a note on Glorien’s nightmares), (Feyros flats back), (Glorien and his brothers, flashback might come back in the story)
Ask games: (caretaking), (small outfit), (ring gag), (a bath with Marsi), (piercing), (gag Glorien), (Triban used knife threat. It was very effective.), (pliers), (mean dancers)
Just something I wrote and was kind of proud of. It’s about Roman emperor Nero, and a fictional interpretation of his thoughts on the death of his mother Agrippina.
CW: suicide mention, death of mother, sexism, attempt at drowning (briefly discussed), denial, murder, regret, real historical people fic
Just something I wrote and was kind of proud of. It’s about Roman emperor Nero, and a fictional interpretation of his thoughts on the death of his mother Agrippina.
CW: suicide mention, death of mother, sexism, attempt at drowning (briefly discussed), denial, murder, regret, real historical people fic
Comfort! Hugs! Happiness! … or something like that.
Previous || Masterlist ||  Next  Â
CW: slavery, captivity
It was still fairly early and the birds were bickering over the last berries of the trees in the courtyard. Kell couldn’t believe how loud they were. He rested his elbows on the windowsill.
He had never been good at identifying birds but he was almost sure the birds down there were sparrows. He wondered where Jinn was right now. With each passing day he lost another drop of hope of seeing him again. Maybe he would never …
Kell instinctively started counting the panels on the floor. He was waiting for Robin in one of the rehearsal rooms. Robin liked making people wait for her. But today Kell was fine with that. The later she was the less time he had to spent with her.Â
Neither of them had been happy, when Oryn had paired them for their next performance. But even though Kell hated her, he had to admit that their voices harmonized perfectly. And he just hated her even more because of that.
Just something I wrote and was kind of proud of. It’s about Roman emperor Nero, and a fictional interpretation of his thoughts on the death of his mother Agrippina.
CW: suicide mention, death of mother, sexism, attempt at drowning (briefly discussed), denial, murder, regret, real historical people fic
This was incredible, Cornelia! It was fascinating to see Nero’s thoughts spiral as he is processing the fact that he had his mother killed, and all the complicated feelings about it. It was so well written.
Just something I wrote and was kind of proud of. It’s about Roman emperor Nero, and a fictional interpretation of his thoughts on the death of his mother Agrippina.
CW: suicide mention, death of mother, sexism, attempt at drowning (briefly discussed), denial, murder, regret, real historical people fic
***Â
Wealthy Roman citizens came to Baiae to find rest. A village near the sea, its fresh air clearing your lungs and its springs cleansing your body... it does wonders, they say.
The night was clear. It was quiet. Nero wondered if the Gods were already gathering to judge him.
He sat up in his bed. Seneca had advised him to get some sleep, yet none would come to him. Lying still only made it easier for the fear to overpower his body.
Fear of... what? He'd done nothing wrong. Twenty-one years old, and he had taken control of his life. He'd been a toy in his mother's games for too long.
Gently, he pushed aside the bedsheets and put his bare feet onto the cold mosaic floor. A chill went through his body and he stood up. He walked towards the open windows.
Leaning against the frame, he stared at the landscape before him, and the sea behind it.
I didn't do anything.
Just earlier, he'd ordered the body of his mother to be cremated. There hadn't been much extravagance, but not too little either. He didn't want to draw attention to the funeral ritual, he didn't want to think about it.
She had committed suicide. She always wanted power, way more than a woman deserved. Nero nodded slowly. Yes, she wanted power, but he was the emperor. She couldn't take "no" for an answer.
She had attempted to kill him. His throat was still tense from the shock when his mother's messenger had dropped a sword, hidden under his tunic, right before Nero's feet. He grabbed his arms and held himself tight. What could he have done? An attempt on his life, disguised as a declaration of benevolence, that his mother "was happy to have survived a terrible accident, and that she wished to be alone". Lies, everyone knew his mother had built her reputation on lies.
A soft breeze brushed the thin curtain against his leg. He was standing here, while the woman who had birthed him, who had raised him...
'I had to protect myself. I had to do it', he whispered.Â
He hadn't thought clearly, but could anyone blame him? His mother had thought the accident was an attempt on her life.
Nero scoffed, pinching his upper arm.
 'The boat collapsed on its own', he spat out.Â
He believed that. That was how it happened.
She survived the collapse and swam safely to the coast. And then she thought he had tried to kill her.
Based on what? He had given her the boat, sure. But what about the dinner before that? He had been so kind to her, he was sure of it. He had joked around, asked her for advice on what was best to eat, and how to manage a household on his own, and she had given him advice, just like she always did. She was his mother, and the moment she patted his cheek like she always did, he forgot he wouldn't see her again tomorrow. Just for a moment, he forgot he'd kill her.
He leaned forward and covered his face in his hands.
He wanted to be free. So, he had ordered her death.
It had been planned for months, yet only now did he truly understand what it meant. It meant false hope, it meant disappointment. He only felt more trapped.
A carriage was parked at the intersection of the main road to the palace and some smaller street that only led to taverns. In front of the carriage, Feyros was walking back and forth. He couldn’t think. Worry had taken over his mind.Â
He paused as he saw the light of a touch approach. Two of his bodyguards walked over, in between them a man with a familiar posture. All of his worries washed away and he hastened towards the trio.Â
‘You’re found!’, he exclaimed. A smile spread across his face, he couldn’t help himself.Â
He slowed down when he noticed the smeared make-up on Glorien’s face, and his red eyes. His lip was wobbling slightly. Had he been crying?
‘Are you alright? Are you hurt?’, he asked.Â
Hesitantly, he put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. When teary eyes looked up at him, he couldn’t control himself anymore. He launched forward and wrapped the boy into his embrace.Â
‘It’s fine. You’re safe, it’s fine.’
He knew how scary the city could be at night. The people who roamed the streets when the sun had gone down, didn’t do so with good intentions. Who knows what could have happened. He closed his eyes. He shouldn’t think like that. Glorien was safe now.Â
***Â
He knew the carriage ride back to the palace would be short, so he had to take every moment of it to ask the dancer a few questions. He had to put his embarrassment from the last time he'd seen Glorien aside. Gently he looked at the boy sitting on the seat opposite of him.Â
‘Where were you?’
Dark brown eyes examined his face. Feyros waited patiently for a reply.Â
‘I wanted to go for a walk, but I got lost’, Glorien whispered.Â
‘A walk? In the city?’ Didn’t he know how dangerous that was?
Glorien stared out of the window. ‘I saw… a suspicious person.’
His breath hitched for a moment. ‘What do you mean?’
The boy shrugged, and kept his attention on the night outside the window.Â
Clearly, something had happened. Feyros felt like it was important, but getting the information out of Glorien would be tedious. And right now, he didn’t have that sort of time.Â
Instead, he asked: ‘What did you want to see me for?’
He had the boy’s attention on him again. His hands were fiddling with one of the silver bracelets he wore. Judging by his confused look, he didn’t know what Feyros was referring to.Â
‘Someone told me you wanted to see me. Was that true?’
Glorien kept frowning and shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’
So his suspicions were true. He was lied to. But why? A shiver ran across his back, and he wrapped his dark blue coat closer around him.Â
‘Do you have any idea who told me that?’, he tried.Â
When the boy shook his head again, he asked: ‘This may sound like a weird question, but do you have any affiliations with lady Triban?’
Now, he got more of a reaction. The fiddling stopped, and a confused look made place for a shocked one. He stumbled over his words. ‘No- not really, no… except- well, she hates me. But that’s it.’
He leaned forward and sofly placed his hand on Glorien’s. ‘Listen. This may be very important. There’s something going on in the palace that may be dangerous for the both of us. So if you can tell me what sort of interactions you have with her, it may help us get a better understanding of things.’
He noticed Glorien did his best to swallow. Then, he said, quietly: ‘She… she- hurts me. She likes to punish me. Vas- the Emperor does that too, but lady Triban actually seems to enjoy it.’
Triban is a sadist, but that he already knew. Feyros leaned back against his seat. Still, it could mean that she easily pushed Glorien in one direction or the other, simply by holding fear over his head. But right now, Glorien wasn’t in a state in which he would admit to something like that, and Feyros couldn’t blame him for it.Â
‘Hey,’ he said, trying to sound cheerful, ‘if you enjoy walks, maybe we could go to the haven? What about tomorrow, right after noon? You’re allowed to go outside, right?’
It seemed to have the opposite effect on the boy. Quickly, Feyros added: ‘Or do you want to go somewhere else? I’d love to go out with you.’
He felt himself getting warm. That came out a lot differently than how he wanted it to be. But a little blush appeared on Glorien’s face as well, making Feyros’s heart jump.Â
‘Uhh… y-yes. I… Maybe the park?’, Glorien mumbled. ‘But not tomorrow! It’s… a busy day.’
‘Of course! When do you want to go?’
‘Um, I don’t know, actually.’
Feyros tried to keep his composure. He had to push harder.Â
‘In three days, maybe? That’s the next day I’m free.’ He saw Glorien hesitate. ‘And if you want to change plans, you can tell me and we’ll do so, alright?’
Now, the boy gave a small nod. ‘Sure.’
‘That’s great!’
The carriage had stopped. They had arrived back at the palace. Feyros helped Glorien get out. When they did, he still couldn’t let go of the boy’s hand. He stared at the gigantic building that towered over the city. For Feyros, any place that basked in luxury was a place of comfort, where he felt safe. But for Glorien, this place was one he must associate with pain and humiliation.Â
For the first time, a thought formed in his head. He cursed himself for not thinking of that sooner. He glanced at Glorien. Had he tried to run away?
Glorien returned his look. ‘I want to go to bed.’
He nodded, and let go of his hand. ‘Goodnight.’
But the boy didn’t go. He kept staring at Feyros. They were alone.Â
Feyros swallowed. Did he want to say something? He’d listen, whatever it was. He’d provide comfort, even if he was tired. Saints, he’d ride him back to the city if he wanted, and pretend like he didn’t find him, just so they had more moments alone. He forced himself to smile. He’d give this person all the warmth he wanted.
‘Goodnight’, Glorien said.Â
That was all.Â
Feyros watched as the boy walked to the main entrance. Soon, the building had consumed him. It left him empty.Â
"You must feel so proud of yourself."
He didn’t know how long he had been standing there, nailed to the ground, when suddenly a guard ran up to him. It was an imperial guard.Â
‘Sir! His Majesty orders that you meet him in his private chambers, immediately!’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘One of our men found the dead body of lady Lazulan, sir!’
