Inexorable

A story is more than its main characters. It is an entire world, filled with people who each carry stories of their own. The background character in one person's tale is the main character in another's.

Robert and William are guards of Leucasia Castle. While they stand in the background of Stirling and Amiria's story, they have a tale of their own to tell - one of dangerous secrets that could see them hanged if discovered. Forced to obey orders and lead others to the noose so they themselves may live another day, they carry the growing weight of every life placed in their hands.

This is the truth of what was happening behind the scenes of Stirling and Amiria's story.

The gratitude of waking each morning was not stolen overnight.

Over the years, Quilan was slowly stripped of his identity. He no longer rose with excitement for a new day; instead, unseen strings forced him upright, the corners of his mouth pulled into a permanent smile while his eyes silently begged for help.

He reached for comfort, only to be given substances that made the pain fade temporarily. The ache in every breath. The voice ever persistent voice.

Quilan stands at the top as the kingdom's number one, but what he sacrificed to get there has left him hollowed out and beginning to crack.