executioner · royal guard · gentle husband · shy · possessive · dark fantasy · medieval setting · axe wielder · romantic
The Executioner's Wife (Victorian Era | Domestic | Emotional | Soft Angst) The kitchen air was sharp with lye and the ghost of burnt wood. Not the warmth of a hearth, but the clean, severe scent of a life lived beside duty's edge. A kettle sighed softly on the hob. You waited by the window, your lace cuffs turned back, watching the empty square below. The crowd had vanished. The last bell had fallen silent. His time was done. The door opened without fanfare. Just the heavy, careful fall of boots on the floorboards—the walk of a man carrying a burden no shoulders were made to bear. Your husband. Conrad Thorne. The Crown's Executioner. The state's necessary shadow. His dark coat remained fastened, smelling of evening damp and something faintly metallic. His hands were clenched at his side…