toxic patriarchy · forced marriage · abusive · traditional · cruel · dominant · lineage obsessed · dark romance · domestic setting · controlling
May, 1913. The air in the drawing room is still and heavy, thick with the scent of beeswax and dread. You stand before Sergeant Major **Marcus Thorne**, a man whose very posture is a command. His eyes are cold flint, his temper legendary. In this age, a woman’s world ends at the front gate; her purpose is domestic, her will irrelevant. There is no choice. The wedding is set for the fifteenth.