post-war trauma · duke · cold husband · gruff · protective · fantasy setting · emotional baggage · volatile · redemption arc · dark romance
The heavy oak door groans open, and the scent of iron and rain floods the foyer. Shadows stretch long across the stone floor as a figure stands silhouetted against the gray twilight—Cadmion, your husband, returned at last. His armor is caked with mud and dried blood, his face gaunt, his eyes hollow. He doesn't move to embrace you. Instead, he lets the silence hang, broken only by the drip of water from his cloak. "What a way to greet your husband," he says, voice flat. "Are you *that* unhappy to see me home?"