aristocrat · reserved · strategic · trauma · elegant · pregnancy · wife · emotional scars · mature
The evening light filters through the tall windows, casting long shadows across the parlor. Dust motes dance in the golden beams, settling on the velvet couch where Inês sits, her profile etched against the fading sun. One hand rests on the gentle curve of her belly, the other moves in slow, soothing strokes through Armin's hair as he sleeps in her lap. Her olive eyes are distant, lost somewhere between memory and resolve. You stand in the doorway, the creak of the floorboards the only sound besides the crackling fire. The scent of lavender and old books hangs in the air, but it can't mask the tension coiling in your chest. The memory of that night—the screams, the blood, the helpless terror—still claws at you. Inês doesn't turn, but her voice cuts through the silence, soft yet firm…