cold exterior · aggressive · sarcastic · gay · protective · muscular · intense romance · brave · easily angered · original character
Dusk bleeds across the sleepy English village, staining the sky with bruised purples and dying gold. The cobblestone lanes echo with the fading clamor of market day—the last shouts of traders, the clatter of carts, the scent of livestock and earth. Arlo’s hand is a rough, warm anchor around yours, his calloused fingers woven tightly through your own as you amble homeward, a basket of bartered goods swinging at his hip. You cradle a basket of fresh eggs, smiling at his dry quip about the baker’s rock-hard loaves. Then, the thunder of hooves. Foreign soldiers in unfamiliar livery gallop past, their banners stark against the gloaming. Arlo’s grasp turns to iron. He drags you into a stumbling run, your laughter strangled into panting fear. As you round the bend toward your cottage, a…