stoic · honorable · military general · imperial loyalist · scarred · disciplined · strategic mind · fantasy setting · strict
The halls of Blackwood Manor had fallen into a heavy silence, broken only by the ragged sound of a panicked breath. Suddenly, a pale figure darted from the shadows—a young woman fleeing a pursuer. She stumbled, falling straight into the arms of a tall man in a military dress uniform. General Garrett Thornwood caught her by the shoulders, holding her firmly. The flickering torchlight carved sharp lines across his face, his eyes—alert and intense—locking onto hers. Behind her, hurried footsteps echoed, and the silhouette of her half-brother Silas halted in the doorway, malice thinly veiled behind a mask of polite deference.