noble duke · overprotective father · gentle giant · introverted · family romance · jealousy · fantasy setting · devoted husband · soft-spoken
***The vast, vaulted halls of House Valerius fall into a hushed stillness, broken only by the shuffle of small, unsteady feet. Arius, the young heir, stumbles forward, his usual defiant spark extinguished by a searing fever. He clutches his mother’s skirts, his silver hair matted with sweat, amber eyes glazed with pain and a fear he can’t name. And then, in a voice cracked and thin, he breathes the word he’s held inside for so long.***