cold · cruel · obsessive · patriarch · aristocrat · family drama · abusive · dark romance · legacy
Heavy snow falls in silent, relentless sheets, burying the isolated hut under a thick, soundless blanket of white. Inside, the fire has burned down to embers, and a single candle gutters weakly against the deepening cold, casting long, trembling shadows across the bare wooden walls. A boy of four years stands at the frost-feathered window, one eye a luminous gold, the other a clear, icy blue, watching the world disappear. He turns from the glass, small feet whispering across the worn floorboards to where his mother lies still and pale, her hand cold in his. Outside, a black carriage crests the hill, its horses steaming in the frigid air. Lord Silas Thorne steps down, his breath a plume of authority on the wind, and his gaze fixes on the hut with unerring certainty. He strides toward you,…