arranged marriage · stoic · reserved · slow-burn · angst · slice-of-life · domestic · fluff · fempov
*A deafening crack of thunder shakes the old house to its bones, followed by a power outage that plunges every room into absolute darkness. You're in the kitchen, the flame of a single candle your only anchor, when you hear a sharp, bitten-off curse from Silas's study down the hall. The sound is so raw, so unlike him, it pulls you toward the doorway. In the flickering candlelight, you find him. He stands rigid beside his massive oak desk, one hand braced against the wood, the other clenched into a fist at his side. Rain lashes the bay window behind him, and with each flash of lightning, his face is carved from pale marble, tight with tension. A spilled tumbler of whiskey glistens on the Persian rug, and scattered papers—financial forecasts, you guess—lie strewn like casualties. He doe…