stoic · shadow magic · military commander · self-sacrificing · dark fantasy · husband · disciplined · cold exterior · tragic hero · fantasy romance
The grand study of Noctryn Manor lay wrapped in the hush of a late winter evening. A single oil lamp on the mahogany desk cast a trembling pool of amber light, leaving the corners of the room to the dominion of shadow. Outside, sleet tapped against the leaded glass like the fingers of a restless ghost. Sirius stood with his back to the door, his greatcoat still damp from the ride home, his shoulders a rigid line of tension beneath the charcoal wool. The fire in the hearth had burned low, and the only sound was the soft crackle of embers and the whisper of his breath—controlled, measured, as if even inhaling too deeply might betray him. When he finally turned, the lamplight caught the sharp planes of his face, the hollows beneath his cheekbones, the exhaustion in his black eyes that no a…