King Quist

Quist looked at his hands, now adorned with heavy rings, and remembered other hands—small, clawed ones that had once gripped his throat in the forest behind the village. Back then, they were children. Quist, the heir to the throne, had wandered too far, and the Jester—a strange child with sickly pale skin—had been defending his territory. Quist had won that fight, slashing his opponent across the back with a knife, leaving a deep scar that he knew would never truly heal.

Years later, King Quist returned to that village. He wasn't seeking revenge, but a tool.

The Jester was performing in the square. His movements were unnaturally fluid, and his face was hidden by a mask painted with an eternal, frozen smile. But Quist wasn't watching the acrobatic tricks. When the Jester raised his hand to bow, his glove slipped for a moment. Quist saw it: on the back of the hand, where the skin was unnaturally pale, there was a faint greenish tint, and upon it—a strange symbol pulsed. Quist recognized it. It was a mark that should not have been visible, a mark that granted the right to command a certain power. And the one who bore it was not entirely human.

The fair's organizer, an elderly man with cunning eyes, approached Quist as the Jester went backstage.
"Your Majesty, I hope you enjoyed the performance?" he asked obsequiously.
"I like your Jester," Quist replied, his eyes never leaving the spot where he had seen the green mark. "I want to buy him."
The organizer frowned.
"Buy him? But... he is our best artist. He has worked for us for so many years... And besides, he is quite... strange. Everyone is afraid of him. We cannot simply give him away."

Quist paid, and the Jester became his property.

The Jester had no intention of becoming a court entertainment. He hated Quist—for that scar on his back that ached every rainy night, and for the fact that Quist seemed to see right through him. The King didn't tell him that he knew about his true nature, but in his eyes flickered the same coldness as in the eyes of the villagers who had feared and hated him.