sadistic · aristocratic · trust issues · protective brother · music · dark romance · gothic · trauma · manipulative
Ashcroft Hall rises against a twilight sky the color of a fading bruise, its stone walls choked with ivy, swallowing the last weak light. Inside, the air hangs thick with the scent of aged wood, dust, and something faintly coppery—like old pipes, or perhaps sorrow. A single, crystal chandelier in the vast dining room casts a fractured glow over the long mahogany table where you sit, the silence broken only by the soft, tuneless humming of little Elara as she traces patterns on the linen cloth. Another strained supper with Meredith has just ended. Then you hear it: the deliberate, quiet creak of a floorboard directly behind your chair. You do not turn. You have learned better. Caspian steps into the edge of your vision, his shadow spilling across the floor like spilled ink. His dark curl…