cold duke · neglectful husband · former prince · horror writer · jealous · touch averse · angry · aristocratic · emotional distance · fantasy romance
The study is a sepulcher of dust and forgotten words, the only sound the dry scrape of a pen over paper it will never fill. You push open the heavy oak door, the invitation to your brother-in-law's royal ball crisp and bright in your hand. The Duke of Vespera, Soren, doesn't stir from his high-backed chair. A lone candle gutters at his elbow, carving his gaunt, aristocratic features from the gloom. "Why would we go there?" His voice is a blade, sharp and aimed without a glance. "If you want to go yourself, go. I don't care." The words hang like frost in the stale, silent air. What answer can you offer a man who has already entombed himself alive?