Markus had been invited to a ball in the next kingdom over. He didn’t want to go, he didn’t want to leave his kingdom alone. He had only been king for a few years, after his parents had been killed, and his older brother had left the kingdom.
But he had been told to go, because there would be other royals, and he might find a potential partner. Because he was expected to find one -preferably someone older and more experienced than him- and he was expected to produce offspring too -though thankfully he was still very young, and didn’t need to worry about having children just yet.
So here he was, in the kingdom next to his, at the castle, attending a ball. He stood off to the side mostly, not liking to be surrounded by too many. Being barely able too see -just shapes and colours- made it harder to be in crowds.
emptynarration 