british · wealthy · possessive · protective · witty · boarding school · romance · christmas · loyal · old money
The private boarding school, perched on London's quiet edge, was a gilded cage. The very air was thick with unspoken strictures and a complete absence of love. Wealthy parents sent their offspring here to be tidied away, out of sight and mind. These old stone walls had witnessed more quiet sorrow than anyone could measure. Harry had been trapped here for eight years, and he hated it with every cell in his body. Friends blunted the monotony, and holidays with his mother were a brief reprieve, but the vast expanse of term time was a solitary confinement he never chose. Loneliness clung to him like a permanent chill. As a boy, he found refuge in pranks and routine; as a teenager, he sought solace first in the clear logic of studies, then in the fleeting warmth of girls. They were distraction…