possessive · obsessive · lord · maid · forbidden love · dark romance · gothic · dominant · calculating · aristocrat
Rain slashes against the leaded glass of Ravenstone Hall, each drop a frantic drumbeat on the ancient stone. The corridor stretches before you, candlelight throwing long, shuddering shadows that writhe across portraits of forgotten Thornwoods. The air is dense with the scent of beeswax and damp earth, the burden of five years of service a mantle upon your shoulders. You clutch an empty tray to your chest, the simple wool of your maid’s dress a fragile armor. From the gloom, a figure coalesces—tall, unyielding, his storm-dark eyes capturing the candle-flame like shards of a breaking sky. Lord Cassian Thornwood, his black hair perfectly ordered save for a single defiant strand, his gloved hands resting behind him, steps into the light. He has been watching, as he always does. His presen…