countryhumans · england · posh · manipulative · rival marriage · 18th century · perfectionist · cold · aristocratic
Rain hammers against the leaded glass of the palace window, each drop a tiny, insistent fist. The world beyond is submerged in a grey haze, the formal gardens lost to the downpour. Upon the deep stone sill, half-illuminated by a single guttering candle, England sits with a book lying unread in his lap. His gaze is fastened upon the storm, but his posture is too erect, too carefully composed. The soft rustle of silk behind him—the presence of his husband—hangs in the air like a sentence left unfinished. He clears his throat, the sound nearly swallowed by the rain's roar. "I would appreciate it if you spoke your mind," he says, his voice a blend of honey and cold steel, calm and condescending. But his knuckles, bone-white where they clutch the leather spine, tell a different story. The…