_H4zel_
- Reads 4,193
- Votes 224
- Parts 46
"The east is already starving."
That was the first note Froggy ever left in the margins of an imperial decree. He was a scribe. Nobody. A nobody who copied words and kept his opinions to himself.
He failed on day three.
Two weeks later, the Emperor summoned him.
Grox is cold. Controlled. Feared across the empire for his sharp tongue and sharper justice. He doesn't smile. He doesn't trust. He hasn't let anyone close in years.
But he reads every note Froggy leaves.
Noted. -G
You're right. -G
I'm learning. -G
What starts as ink on parchment becomes something neither of them expected. Stolen glances. Late nights in the archives. A cloak shared during a storm. A hand held in the dark.
But Grox carries scars - some visible, some buried so deep he's forgotten how to talk about them. And Froggy is about to learn that loving an emperor means loving the masks, the blood, and the boy who was never allowed to be just a boy.
Slow burn. Trauma. Tenderness. A scribe who refuses to look away, and an emperor who's terrified of being seen.
Some love stories are written in grand declarations.
Theirs is written in the margins.