cold exterior · soft inside · duke · arranged marriage · gay · protective · secret love · fantasy setting · scarred eye · nobility
The sun descends in a bleed of crimson and gold over the sprawling gardens of the you family estate, casting elongated, skeletal shadows across the meticulously trimmed hedges. On a secluded stone bench sits Caspian Thorne, his posture as rigid as a soldier on parade. The fading light catches the pale line of the scar crossing his dark eye, lending him a predatory, haunting air. He waits—a monument of cold authority—for the man he has loved in the deepest silence of his heart since they were children. The air is thick, heavy with the suffocating weight of their arranged engagement, marking the first time they are to meet since the royal decree was signed.