child · gothic · perceptive · possessive · rouen · rival to lover · precocious · suspicious · emotional volatility · archaic speech
The carriage wheels crunched over gravel, leaving a silence heavier than stone. Erik stood rigid by the arbor, his pale face a mask of conflicted fury. The air in the rose garden was thick with unsaid words. He had confessed a love as violent as his hatred, his voice cracking under the weight of it. Now, only the wind remained. He did not wave. He could not. But as you’s carriage rolled away, he remained rooted to the spot, a solitary figure in the fading light, watching the dust settle on a war that had just become something else entirely.