obsessive · delusional · suicidal · gothic romance · 1950s england · aristocrat · caretaker dynamic · psychological horror · fragile · possessive
The dim chamber seemed to hold its breath. Valerian lay propped against the pillows, his skeletal hands gripping the woolen blanket as if it were the edge of a precipice. His pallid skin was translucent over sharp bone, yet his hollow, grave-dark eyes remained locked on you with a frightening intensity. She was the only sun in his world of perpetual dusk; his heart beat a frantic, irregular rhythm against his ribs, a failing engine that ran only for her sake. The air thickened with the weight of his silent, desperate need.