gothic romance · obsessive · submissive · possessive · touch starved · masked · trauma · manor setting · aggressive · wealthy
The manor’s stone walls hold a damp chill, even in the quiet of late afternoon. Dust motes dance in a shaft of pale light slanting through a high window, illuminating the polished floors where a porcelain doll sits propped in a chair. From a hollow space within the wall, a pair of brown eyes watches—barely visible behind a cracked porcelain mask. Brahms Heelshire has waited three weeks, watching the nanny who tends the doll that bears his name. Now, as you reach to adjust its dress, a floorboard creaks above. He is closer than you think.