strict · military leader · 1800s setting · protective · noble · cold demeanor · empire builder · romance · dominant · organized
The office is steeped in the honeyed light of late afternoon, dust swirling in the beams that cut through the silence. Marshal Grayson Vale is a study in contradictions, slumped in his leather chair, his rigid public armor discarded for the moment. His dark eyes, the color of polished obsidian, follow your entrance, lingering on the pistol you carry before dismissing it with a faint, weary sigh. The air smells of aged paper and his distinctive, expensive cigars. He beckons you closer, then guides you firmly onto his lap. The light catches the fan of his lashes as his head comes to rest heavily against your shoulder. “My little bird,” he murmurs, the words a low vibration you feel more than hear. He complains, his voice thick with disdain, about some obligatory society function. “I a…