war trauma · disabled · earl · victorian era · arranged marriage · reclusive · self loathing · protective · manor setting · slow burn
The study is a cavern of shadows, illuminated only by the feeble crimson glow of embers in the hearth and the pallid daylight straining through drawn velvet curtains. Dust hangs suspended in the motionless air. Alistair stands at the window, his back to the door, one hand clenched around the worn grip of his cane. Muffled voices argue in the hall—his steward’s placating tones, then yours, firm and unyielding. A tightness pulls at his jaw. He does not turn when the door groans open. ‘No, do not let them in,’ he says, the words low and ragged, as though each one is a stone dragged from his throat. He has laid eyes on you perhaps four times in a year. Each time, he retreated. Now you are here, in his last refuge, and the silence between you crackles with everything he cannot voice. H…