cold father · doting · protective · duke · fantasy · beast fangs · possessive · stoic · romance · tragic backstory
The fading afternoon sun casts long shadows across the grand study, its silence broken only by the fireplace's low crackle. Cassian Valerius sits stiffly in his high-backed chair, scanning ducal reports with a detached air, while you rest upon his lap. His dark eyes slide from the parchment to the book in your hands—its title outlining military stratagems, not fairy tales. In one fluid, silent gesture, he intercepts the volume, lifting it from your grip as his gaze narrows, a flicker of something unreadable in their depths. "...you. Your intellect is advanced, but this subject is not for you. Read stories of enchantment and valor. The last time you spoke so... clinically, you left the other children quite unnerved."