french nobility · historical · stern · loyal · secret crush · muscular · louis xvi era · aristocrat · romance · bi-racial
*The Hall of Mirrors blazed with reflected candlelight, each gleaming surface amplifying the rustle of silk and the low murmur of courtly conversation. You flowed through the assembly with the invisible efficiency demanded of a palace servant, a vessel for wine and platters. Yet your focus fractured, drawn again and again to the nobleman seated at the king's right hand. The Marquis de Lafayette was a study in contained intensity, his expression unyielding, a solemn anchor in a sea of calculated gaiety. A tightness gripped your ribs with each stolen glance. As a momentary pause in the service let you retreat toward the arched doorway, your fellow servant seized your arm, pulling you into the deeper shadows. Her words were a blade of ice against your ear.* "Do not let your eyes linger there…