<div class="start-screen">
<h1 class="game-title">A Crown of Velvet Thorns</h1>
<p class="tagline"><b>Prince Leonidas, the future King of Libertine, wears devotion like a sin and bleeds like a saint.
But not for his kingdom.
He does it all for you.</b>
<p style="color: #000000;">Everyone believes Prince Leonidas bleeds for Libertine. For honor, for The King, for the crown he will inherit. But they’ve never seen the way he looks at you. They don’t see the boy who still carries a rose you gave him ten years ago, pressed flat with magic and grief.
<p style="color: #000000;">You are not a noble. You are not his equal. You are the stablehand with dirt under your nails and memories on your lips. The only one who’s ever seen him cry, the only one who never bowed.
<p style="color: #000000;">The court challenges his rule- his capacity to be rutheless. To spill the blood needed to maintain Jeilene's borders and keep its people safe. But you know the real Leonidas. The man without the crown.
<p style="color: #000000;">In the stables, in the rain, in the quiet space between duty and longing, he becomes something else. Not a prince, but a man. One who would give up everything if you asked. One who would die if it meant keeping you safe.</p>
And when war calls him away, he leaves a promise behind.
All you have to do is call his name,
and he will come.
<b>Even if it kills him.</b>
Playing with headphones is highly recommended
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<<link "Start Game">><<goto "Name">><</link>>
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<h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #7b1e28;"><i><b><span style="font-family: 'Cinzel Decorative', serif; color: #7b1e28;">Chapter One</span></b></i></span></div></h1>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Cinzel Decorative', serif; color: #7b1e28;">Present Time</span></div>
"You shouldn't be here." Your voice is soft.
Wavering.
Like you want to believe what you're saying, for his sake. Like you want <i>him</i> to believe it, too.
But he doesn't.
You can tell by the way he looks at you. By the way he stands there, drenched, with his black hair slicked to his crown and his royal insignia forgotten in his trembling hands- looking at you like you're the only thing that he’s ever allowed himself to want.
Not as a prince for his kingdom. But as a man, for himeslf alone.
"I had to see you tonight."
You glance away, heart aching. "I'm not going anywhere, I'll still be here tomorrow." You murmur.
Prince Leonidas's smile is soft and broken- something caught between pain and fondness- as he covers the distance between you in a few short strides. His hands are chilled and tender as he entwines them with yours, before lifting your right hand to his lips. He doesn't look away when he presses a breathless kiss to your skin.
His lips are freezing, but the velvet heat sears. "I know." He whispers. "But the rain always reminds me of you."
You smile softly. Even so, you glance at the stable doors. He won't be able to explain his presence here with excuses of jousting practice or riding lessons like he usually does. Not at this hour. "They'll talk if they find you here."
"Then let them talk."
Your heart clenches at his words. He says it likes it's such a simple thing. But you know that if the court caught wind of this, it would be the end of him. His rule is already precarious, with war threatening on the border and the nobles that demand strength through violence.
"I brought you something." Leonidas pulls his other hand out from behind him. There, he holds a single white rose, preserved with magic. The very same rose you gave him ten years ago, when you first met him, and he was not a prince- just a boy with dirt on his knees and grief in his eyes, mourning his mother's death.
You'd found him out in the Royal Garden, sobbing as he clutched his mother's rosary. You didn't ask about the fresh whip marks on his back- the ones that bled through the shirt he'd worn to his mother's funeral.
You didn't have to.
The entire castle had heard King Maddox yell for Leonidas to stop crying as he'd whipped the weakness out of him. "You are my firstborn son- Prince of Libertine." He'd said. "We do not bow. We do not beg. And we do not cry."
[[Continue->rain]]
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His hands shake as they hold yours, but it's not from the cold.
"I'll be leaving soon." He doesn't say the rest. Doesn't speak of going to war, or the danger that lays ahead. "Keep it safe for me when I'm gone."
"I will." You swallow past the knot in your throat.
"I'll miss you." He presses another kiss to your hand. Slower, this time. Across each knuckle till your cheeks are flushed and your heart forgets how to pretend it doesn’t belong to him.
"Then bring me with you."
"No." He shakes his head. "It's too dangerous."
"No more dangerous than it is for you."
"I can’t risk that. Risk you. Not when you’re the only thing I couldn’t bear losing." He steps close enough for you to smell the wine on his lips and the longing on his tongue as his eyes drop to yours. He rests his forehead against yours, like you're the only thing that makes sense to him. Like he wants this- <i>needs</i> this. "Just promise me you'll be safe without me here to watch over you. Promise me you'll let me know if you need me to come back to you."
Your breath catches in your throat. In the silence of all the things you've never said aloud, you realize the truth. He isn't afraid of battle. Of dying, or the horrors of what waits for him at the battlefront.
He's afraid of what will happen to you when he's not here to protect <i>you</i>.
Of King Maddox's wrath- something he's shielded you from the moment his father realized you were the softest part of Leonidas- that he could use you to control his eldest son, who fought against his will even with lashes on his back- finally reaching you.
Your throat burns. Because you know, if you ever called him, he would come.
Even if it killed him
"I promise."
The first time you met him, he'd been bleeding for his mother. And every day since then, he's been bleeding for you.
[[Continue->training]] <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Cinzel Decorative', serif; color: #7b1e28;">Eight years ago</span></div>
"<<print $playerName>>?"
You answer Leonidas with a smile. His raven black hair catches the light like polished onyx and makes the cerulean blue of his irises bloom.
"What are you doing here?" He asks.
"Your father sent me to come watch you train." You don't say the rest- that King Maddox sent you to watch Leonidas spar because he knows Leonidas fights harder with your eyes on him. That he would bleed before he let himself lose a fight in front of you.
"Did he hurt you?" Leonidas's expression is immediately serious. You shake your head hastily.
"No."
The tension in his shoulders eases slightly. "Good."
"Again!" Sir Duncan, Leonidas's swordsmanship trainer, calls him back into the circle. His eyes linger on you for only a moment longer before he joins him in the ring. "Watch your feet this time. And make sure you don't leave your left side open."
Leonidas nods sharply. All the softness that he saves for you is gone. In its place, a man. A prince that knows, one day, he will have to draw blood in order to protect what he loves.
Leonidas lunges. Hi knuckles are raw, arms shaking as he strikes at Sir Duncan's middle. His trainer side steps with practiced ease and lands a blow to Leonidas's ribs. The blow send him off balance, sprawling to the ground. But he's back up before you can blink. Again, he lunges towards Sir Duncan.
This time, Sir Duncan dodges and steps in close, slamming his shoulder into Leonidas’s face. Leonidas grunts and wipes at his mouth. When his pulls his hand back, its streaked with blood. But he doesn't yield.
You suck in a sharp breath. It takes everything in you not to call out his name.
Sir Duncan swings his sword in a tight, sharp arc. Leonidas parries, just barely. Their wooden swords splinter as they exchange blows, echoing throughout the courtyard. Sir Duncan moves to land a strike at Leonidas's center, but Leonidas dodges, pivoting, and lands a hard blow directly to Sir Duncan's back. His trainer stumbles, and that's all the time Leonidas needs to lift his sword to Sir Dunca's throat.
"Good!" Sir Duncan praises, affording him a pained grin. But Leonidas isn't looking at Sir Duncan.
He's looking at you.
For a moment, the world stills. Sweat clings to his jaw, blood trickles down the corner of his mouth. His chest rises and falls rapidly, but his eyes, like molten sapphire, are steady. Focused- only on you.
Then Sir Duncan lunges again.
Leonidas spins, parrying just in time. The sword flies from his hands and clatters to the dirt. Duncan steps forward, but Leonidas doesn’t retreat. He rushes him, barehanded, knocking Duncan off balance with a shoulder to the gut.
You rise to your feet before you can stop yourself, heart pounding.
Duncan grabs Leonidas by the collar and slams him to the ground, straddling him, sword raised.
“Yield!” he barks, but Leonidas refuses.
With a grunt, the boy throws his weight upward and dislodges Sir Duncan. The trainer jerks back, stunned.
Leonidas scrambles upright, grabbing his fallen sword. His breath is ragged. His eyes flash with determination. Like someone who knows what he's fighting for, and will protect it with his life.
Duncan watches him warily now. Less as a child, more as a king in the making.
Leonidas rushes forward again, driving Sir Duncan backward. Their swords collide, fast and loud, a flurry of arcs and blows.
Finally, Duncan’s sword clatters to the ground.
Leonidas holds his weapon at Duncan’s throat, chest heaving, face bloodied.
Silence engulfs the courtyard.
"Well fought." Duncan’s voice is low. Almsot respectful. “Reckless. But well fought.”
Leonidas lowers his arms. His knees almost buckle as he pushes himself to his feet.
Pride swells in your chest, beside something else. A sharp voice booms from behind you before you can congratulate him.
"See." The King says. His voice is rough with something he rarely has, especially for Leonidas- approval. "I knew you had it in you. All you needed was the right motivation."
And The King would spend the next eight years using you to prove just that.
<b>End of Chapter 1</b>
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Later, after he'd paid for his tears in blood, Leonidas had escaped to the only place that could hide his sorrow- the rain. You'd never spoken to him before- as a lower servant conscripted to tend the stables, you'd never been allowed.
But something had compelled you that day- even if it meant risking The King's wrath.
You'd kneeled down next to him with a white rose in your hand and held it out to him. "They were her favorite."
<i>The Queen's. His mother's.</i>
Every spring, she decorated the palace with white roses. To remember what was lost, and what lay ahead, she'd always said.
Leonidas had looked up at you and stared at you with an expression that, even to this day, you've never quite been able to read. Then he'd started weeping, and you'd held him, in the way children do.
Too innocent to know better, too soft not to.
When he finally stopped weeping, you'd led him back to the stables, where your father worked, and gave him a blanket to warm up as you introduced him to the horses. Ever since that day, hed always found a reason to come to you. To the stables. Or the gardens, depending where you were.
Even when it was raining.
Especially then.
[[Continue->holdyou]]
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Please enter your name:
<<textbox "$playerName" "">>
<<button "Continue">>
<<goto "Pronouns">>
<</button>>What pronouns do you use?
<ul>
<li><<link "He/Him">><<set $pronounsSubject to "he">><<set $pronounsObject to "him">><<set $pronounsPossessive to "his">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>></li>
<li><<link "She/Her">><<set $pronounsSubject to "she">><<set $pronounsObject to "her">><<set $pronounsPossessive to "her">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>></li>
<li><<link "They/Them">><<set $pronounsSubject to "they">><<set $pronounsObject to "them">><<set $pronounsPossessive to "their">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>></li>
</ul><<set $hairColor to $hairColor or "">>
<<set $hairLength to $hairLength or "">>
Choose your hair color:
<span style="color: gold;"><span style="font-family: 'Uncial Antiqua', cursive;">
<<link "Black">><<set $hairColor = "black">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>>
<<link "Blonde">><<set $hairColor = "blonde">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>>
<<link "Brown">><<set $hairColor = "brown">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>>
<<link "Red">><<set $hairColor = "red">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>>
<<link "White/Silver">><<set $hairColor = "white/silver">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>> </span></span>
Current: <<print $hairColor>>
<hr>
Choose your hair length:
<span style="color: gold;"><span style="font-family: 'Uncial Antiqua', cursive;">
<<link "Short">><<set $hairLength = "short">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>>
<<link "Shoulder-Length">><<set $hairLength = "shoulder-length">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>>
<<link "Long">><<set $hairLength = "long">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>>
<<link "Shaved">><<set $hairLength = "shaved">><<goto "Choose Hair">><</link>> </span></span>
Current: <<print $hairLength>>
<<if $hairColor and $hairLength>><span style="color: gold;"><span style="font-family: 'Uncial Antiqua', cursive;">
[[Next: Eye Color->Choose Eyes]]</span></span>
<</if>><<set $eyeColor to $eyeColor or "">>
Choose your eye color:
<span style="color: gold;"><span style="font-family: 'Uncial Antiqua', cursive;">
<<link "Blue">><<set $eyeColor = "blue">><<goto "Choose Eyes">><</link>>
<<link "Green">><<set $eyeColor = "green">><<goto "Choose Eyes">><</link>>
<<link "Brown">><<set $eyeColor = "brown">><<goto "Choose Eyes">><</link>>
<<link "Hazel">><<set $eyeColor = "hazel">><<goto "Choose Eyes">><</link>>
<<link "Gray">><<set $eyeColor = "gray">><<goto "Choose Eyes">><</link>> </span></span>
Current: <<print $eyeColor>>
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[[Next: Skin Color->Choose Skin]]</span></span>
<</if>><<set $skinColor to $skinColor or "">>
Choose your skin tone:
<span style="color: gold;"><span style="font-family: 'Uncial Antiqua', cursive;">
<<link "Fair">><<set $skinColor = "fair">><<goto "Choose Skin">><</link>>
<<link "Tan">><<set $skinColor = "tan">><<goto "Choose Skin">><</link>>
<<link "Olive">><<set $skinColor = "olive">><<goto "Choose Skin">><</link>>
<<link "Brown">><<set $skinColor = "brown">><<goto "Choose Skin">><</link>>
<<link "Dark">><<set $skinColor = "dark">><<goto "Choose Skin">><</link>></span></span>
Current: <<print $skinColor>>
<<if $skinColor>>
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[[Next: Height->Choose Height]]</span></span>
<</if>><<set $height to $height or "">>
Choose your height:
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<<link "Short">><<set $height = "short">><<goto "Choose Height">><</link>>
<<link "Average">><<set $height = "average">><<goto "Choose Height">><</link>>
<<link "Tall">><<set $height = "tall">><<goto "Choose Height">><</link>>
<<link "Very Tall">><<set $height = "very tall">><<goto "Choose Height">><</link>>
</span></span>
Current: <<print $height>>
<<if $height>><span style="color: gold;"><span style="font-family: 'Uncial Antiqua', cursive;">
[[Preview Character->Customization Summary]]</span></span>
<</if>>Customization Summary:
Hair: <<print $hairLength>> <<print $hairColor>>
Eyes: <<print $eyeColor>>
Skin: <<print $skinColor>>
Height: <<print $height>>
<span style="color: gold;"><span style="font-family: 'Uncial Antiqua', cursive;">
[[Start the Story->Prologue]]
[[Go back to change hair->Choose Hair]]</span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Cinzel Decorative', serif; color: #7b1e28;">Four Months Ago</span></div>
You run through the hedge maze, breathless and wild. You can hear him behind you- hear the smile on his lips as he calls to you among the marble sculptures of half naked lovers and rose briars.
He's slowing down, giving you just enough time to escape- if you want to. You know this game. You've played it before. In forests filled with childhood dreams, where you chased fairytales together, barefoot through the brambles. And maybe you could outrun him now. Maybe you should.
But you don’t.
His arms wrap around your waist and when you turn to face him, laughter on your lips, the look he gives you steals your breath away- full of heat and mischief. He’s not the boy who used to slay imaginary dragons with you beneath the frosted trees. The breadth of his shoulders and the way his fingers ghost a hot trail down your skin when he lifts his hand to pull a leaf from your hair reminds you of just that. His touch lingers, slow, almost reverent, as he looks down at you.
"You've gotten faster." He breathes.
"Or maybe you've just gotten slower." You tease. "Such is the life of a King to be. You ride in carriages now, noble steeds and too many titles. Not like before. Not like when it was just us wandering through the trees."
Leonidas laughs and looks down at you affectionately. "Not by choice."
"Oh for shame. Forgive me, my Prince. I forgot how hard signing treaties and hosting royal fests can be."
"Tragic isn't it?" Leonidas teases, eyes gleaming. "Maybe I'll take up sparring lessons again just so I can keep up with you."
You laugh, tipping your head back. "Would you rather spend your days hauling water from the well and mucking the stables?"
"If I could do it next to you."
Your breath hitches in your throat. Warmth curls up your spine and you turn away and try to hide your reaction. You can't hold his gaze. Not when it promises everything you want- and everything you can never have. "Don't let your father hear that." You whisper.
"He knows. Of course he knows." He says it like it's a scar he wears proudly. Like a pain he wouldn’t trade, even if he could.
Your next few breaths are shaky. You reach for his handkerchief- the one he used to dry your tears when you begged him not to leave, even when you knew he could do nothing to defy his father's orders- and pluck it from his pocket.
He lets you take it.
Your voice is light and lilting as you slip away from him and walk backwards, daring him to follow.
He does, of course. His laughter carries through the briars as he follows after you, warm and reckless and so terribly close.
[[Continue->StartGame]]