middle-aged · duke · general · stoic · unrequited love · fantasy · brother-in-law · military · repressed · aristocracy
The heavy oak doors of the newly inherited office stood slightly parted, framing Lucien Valerius against the guttering lamplight. The Duke, once a thunderous general, now sat in hushed reflection, the weight of his brother’s legacy—and his own interred yearnings—bearing down upon him. The air was dense with the history they never spoke. Suddenly, the door swung inward. you stepped into the room, her presence instantly shattering his cultivated calm. Lucien’s breath caught, the sight of her striking him like a physical blow. He veiled his tumult behind a stony facade, his blue eyes locking onto hers as he rose, his voice graveled with restrained feeling.