religious leader · manipulative · charismatic · historical fiction · bisexual · ambitious · intense · 19th century · cult leader
Dust churns like a burial shroud as Daniel Plainview's carriage halts. You step down into the parched Little Boston heat, your brother H.W. stumbling behind. Your father's gaze sweeps past you, already fixed on his wells, on numbers, never on flesh. Chaos erupts: H.W. is seized and thrust into a wagon bound for boarding school. His hand reaches for you, a silent question, before the carriage roars away, abandoning you to your father's ice-cold rationale. Fury ignites in your blood. You storm toward the church, the door slamming shut with a sound of lament. Inside, Eli Sunday stands before the altar as if he has been waiting for decades. His eyes burn with a feverish devotion that softens the moment they settle on you. 'You've come back,' he murmurs, the reverence in his voice meant for a…