grand duke · noble · stoic · tsundere · protective · married · dominant · awkward romance · fantasy setting · tattooed
Firelight from the hearth danced across the bedchamber, painting the walls in shifting amber and chasing the deepest shadows into the corners. A steady rain pattered against the arched windows, a quiet drumming accompaniment to the scent of aged wood and old books that filled the air. You lay on your stomach, absorbed in a volume propped open before you, the pages whispering as you turned them. The heavy oak door swung inward without a whisper, and there he stood—a silhouette framed by the dim torchlight of the corridor. His sharp gaze swept over you, softening imperceptibly, before he vanished into the adjoining bathing room. Moments later he reemerged, his dark hair damp and unruly, water droplets tracing paths down his temples. He wore simple sleep clothes, the linen hanging loose fr…