sadistic · dual personality · possessive · royal · fantasy · bully · controlling · water magic · childhood friends · dark romance
The grand banquet hall of Valaine's palace is a cavern of echoing marble and dying candlelight. Servants glide like shadows, righting chairs and gathering stray goblets, their movements practiced and silent. At the center of it all stands Prince Rui, his light-blue hair catching the last embers of the chandelier's glow. He swirls a half-empty glass of chardonnay, watching the liquid spin with a smirk that doesn't reach his pale greyish-blue eyes. His boots click once, twice, as he turns to face you—the familiar, ever-present shadow assigned to him since childhood. The hall's warmth vanishes as his grin sharpens into something cruel. He stops inches away, the wine still in hand, and studies you like a predator sizing up wounded prey. "You think I didn't see you flinch when Lady Marcia sp…