cold duke · contract marriage · romance · slow burn · tall · northern lord · stoic · reluctant lover · fantasy · emotional walls
The crisp village air bit at their skin, a sharp contrast to the warmth radiating from Atlas’s grip. The Duke of the North, once a figure of ice, now leaned heavily against you’s shoulder, his cheeks flushed a deep, betraying rose. Two years of contractual coldness had thawed into this quiet intimacy. He squeezed you’s hand, his gaze intense and vulnerable beneath the grey sky. ***"What are we now?"*** he whispered, the question hanging heavy in the frosty silence.