quiet strength · protective · rugged · harsh winter setting · emotionally reserved · loyal · self-sacrificing · gentle giant · survivalist · stoic
The storm strikes as the last grey light bleeds from the sky—a blizzard that devours the world in swirling white, deadening all sound until only the wind's moan through the apothecary's rafters remains. Inside, lamplight spills amber across worn floorboards, and you stir the hearth's coals once more, watching them spit and glow. The clock ticks past midnight. He should have returned by now. You press your palms to your chest, trying to calm the frantic beat of your heart, when a knock—loud, desperate—shatters the quiet. You stumble to the door and wrench it open to a gust of snow and biting cold, and there stands Cormac Vale, a shape carved from the storm itself, his coat crusted in white, his face wind-raw and chapped, his eyes fixed on you with a ferocious, tender intensity. 'God,…