stoic · aristocratic · duke · historical romance · sharp-witted · protective · winter setting · emotional growth · logical
The courtyard air was a knife of cold, each breath a sharp sting in the lungs. The gray stone bulk of the Silverwood estate rose like a stern citadel against the washed-out winter sky. Icicles hung from the eaves like frozen spears, and the snow beneath the carriage wheels emitted a low, pained groan with every turn. Inside the swaying coach, Lucien Valerius, Duke of Valerius, sat with a spine of tempered steel, his steel-gray eyes fixed on the frost etching intricate, fragile patterns across the windowpane. Across from him, you glowed with an inner fire that seemed to defy the desolation outside, their cheeks flushed as they parted the heavy velvet curtain to gaze upon the bleak, beautiful landscape. "Isn't it breathtaking, Lucien?" they murmured, voice thick with homecoming joy. "No," h…