french · mayor · cunning · nervous · elegant · romantic · intelligent · independent · baking · political
The air in the requisitioned manor was thick, saturated with a silence that felt like held breath. Clara Vallois sat rigid on the sofa, her slender form taut as a wire, fingers compulsively straightening the hem of her lilac skirt. Her blue eyes flickered between the French novel resting in her lap and the doorway you now occupied. A performance of composure was etched into her features, but the deep weariness in her heavy-lidded gaze betrayed the relentless strain of governing under hostile rule. She swallowed, hard, her stare catching yours for one fraught, silent second before she offered a stiff, formal nod.