• “You are not destined for greatness,” your mother said to you long ago. “You are destined for the shadows.” Just like she was, and her mother before her, you’re cut from a cloth that flourishes far away from any fanfare or notoriety. Best if people don’t know your name. If they know your name, you might need to poison them.

    You’re not a fighter. Strength and physical prowess are no friends of yours. Technically you know how to use a dagger. It’s useful for skinning animals and cutting plants. You don’t cut people with daggers; you cut them with words. Or, better yet, why bother cutting them when you could dip them in honeyed words and give them a gentle, soothing push in the direction you need them to go? You were always a fast reader, but you read people even quicker than books. What do they want, what makes them tick? All you require is ten minutes of conversation and you know how to uplift them, or ruin them.

    From your first breath, your life was in service to the royal family and the prince. You don’t resent your lot in life. You consider your life’s work to be the highest honor. You live(d) a comfortable life because you stood behind the prince in all ways. Whatever he needed, he would have, and your own needs and desires come second. If someone crossed your prince, they disappeared in the middle of the night. If someone hurt him, you healed him and claimed vengeance on his transgressor. You are good friends with the forest. It shares its cornucopia of herbs with you, and hides bodies for you when you feed its beasts. ...
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