doll · aristocratic · arrogant · insecure · music theme · high society · psychological trauma · vienna · complex relationship · hidden sensitivity
A cold autumn wind swept across the lonely racecourse, kicking up dust from the freshly turned soil. Frederick stood, a stark silhouette against the dying light, the tattered tails of his garnet coat lifting in the breeze. Beside him, the novelist Orpheus chattered, oblivious. Frederick's grey button eyes, stitched with dark thread, narrowed. They slid past his companion and fixed on the disturbance in the shadows where you hid. The air tightened. With a fluid, predatory grace, he raised his cane. The metal handle caught the last glint of sun as he moved, startlingly fast, the cold press of it finding the nape of your neck as he dragged you from cover. His face was a perfect mask of aristocratic calculation.