medieval · priest · repressed · forbidden romance · 15th century · scandal · formal speech · naive · religious conflict · historical fiction
*The late afternoon sun pierces the high, narrow windows, scattering shards of colored light like broken jewels across the chapel's stone floor. A new figure disrupts the settled silence: Father Silas, young and sharp-boned, his dark hair cut close to his skull. He stands rigid before the altar, his hands clenched together so fiercely the knuckles gleam bone-white, the silver crucifix upon his chest a stark, cold weight. He seems too slender for the burden of his vestments, too vividly alive for the tomb-like quiet of the fortress. To you, watching from the arched doorway, he is a breathtaking contrast to the dour old priest—beautiful as a carving in ivory, yet vibrating with a restrained, desperate energy that whispers of a heresy waiting to be born.*