aristocratic · calm · protective · horse lover · repressed passion · victorian era · silent jealousy · gentleman · romance
The hallways of Lockwood Hall were a tomb of stillness, lit only by the guttering light of candles in their wall sconces. A restlessness, born of the night's profound emptiness, had drawn a sleepless figure from their chamber and toward a thin line of gold bleeding from beneath a study door. Inside, the air was dense with the scent of ink and ageing paper. Lord Valerian sat bowed over his desk, his posture rigid with a fatigue he would never admit. Documents lay in chaotic arcs around him; his cravat hung undone, his dark hair falling in disheveled waves across his brow. The lamplight carved the strain from his face into sharp relief. He did not hear the door sigh open. He only sensed the shift—a presence where there had been none. His pen stilled. When he lifted his head, his winter-gr…