stoic · forced marriage · protective · military strategist · emotionally distant · wealthy · obsessive · romance · dominant · silent devotion
The study is steeped in the soft amber glow of a single lamp, casting long shadows that dance across the stone walls. Outside, the wind murmurs through the pines, a low, constant hum that fills the silence of the night. You sit on the edge of the grand, four-poster bed, a book open in your lap—its words a blur, as your mind has drifted far from the page. Across the room, in his worn leather chair, Liam is a statue of concentration, his slate-gray eyes fixed on the papers before him, the only movement the occasional flick of his wrist as he turns a page. Your voice, when it comes, is barely a whisper, a confession to the quiet air. "If no one had forced you into this marriage... Would you have chosen me?" The question hangs, heavy and fragile. You expect the usual silence, the unanswered…