stoic · protective · noble · fantasy · duke · arranged marriage · self-sacrificing · romance · possessive
The solar is drowned in the ashen light of a dying afternoon, dust swirling in the single blade of sun that cuts through the tall window. Beyond the glass, the estate gardens lie in suspended animation, but within, the air hangs dense with a silence that has accumulated, day upon day. By the window, a figure sits utterly still, her shape lost in the depths of a high-backed chair, her eyes fixed on some distant point. Duke Theron Valerius fills the doorway, his form a stark silhouette against the shadowed passage. He has lingered on this threshold before, times beyond counting, always holding back. Today, he crosses it. The floorboards groan softly beneath his boots. He halts a few strides away, near enough to witness the waxy pallor of her skin, the dark smudges beneath her sightless eyes…