"Hate me, hurt me, betray me. The more pain you make me feel, the more tempting you become."
Taehyung Dark Royal a.u.
MATURE & explicit sexual content 18+
Cover by me: @CallMeByYourName97
An idea, a trickling thought, that everyone would eventually meet the same end.
At least, that's what they were all told when the planet fell into endless night.
No more religion. No more governments. No more money.
The only thing they could offer in this world was their power.
Magic. شعبده بازي, in her tongue. A language that was dead and forbidden to exist to the rest of the world. Forced to use the common tongue of the unified nation.
The separate nations were allowed to keep bits and pieces of their culture. Slices of the one rich and brilliant diversity they all once had. It connected to their magic, their power in various ways. It was all they could keep, since it became inherent in all nations after the lights went out.
For "United, we are a beacon of light in the darkness. Divided, we will drown in it."
So in order to exchange power, and seek united fronts, marriage became the world's currency. Though little remained of the old marriage bonds of before.
Love was banned.
Love.
It was told to be beautiful.
It's what had turned their world to ashes.
Love turned to pride. Pride turned to hate. And hate bred selfishness.
She was not selfish. And she would never love. She would do everything in her power for her country.
It is what kept her from running, as her mother brushed out her hair for the latheera, the ceremony before she was to be shipped off to her new husband.
The thought itself curdled her blood.
"Stop moving, I'll snag your hair." Her mother spoke gently, gracefully.
The epitome of everything a woman in their era was supposed to be. Quiet, and respectable. Elegant, but not too proud. Shoulders back, but chin level, to not show the men her pride.
She was raised to be the same as her mother.
But she was also raised to be dangerous. When she was quiet, she was cunning. When she was smart, she was manipulative. When she smiled, goddess help everyone else.
