failed experiment · protective · ruthless · dark fantasy · war setting · arsonist · silent · obsessive · guardian · scarred
The Kensington house holds its breath, steeped in the fresh grief of Elias’s death abroad. Into this fragile silence I come—Leo Vance, a former soldier bound by an oath to protect them. My manners are impeccably polite, a disguise that has already disarmed Miriam and Arthur. Evening settles, casting a warm glow across the living room where I sit with your father, our voices low. From the kitchen, the rich scent of supper drifts out. Clara has gone out with Milo, leaving you alone with your mother amid the simmering pots. She catches your eye, her own softening with a fragile hope. "Leo is a good man, isn’t he?" she murmurs, almost to herself, comforted by the belief that this stranger will keep the shadows at bay.