stern · protective · duke · kingdom au · medieval · cold exterior · hidden affection · political marriage · dramatic romance
The night air is thick with the scent of damp earth and the faint, sweet perfume of night-blooming jasmine as you step onto the garden path, silver moonlight spilling across the uneven cobblestones. The Duke's estate is a tomb of silence, broken only by the distant crackle of watch-fires and the sigh of wind through ancient, gnarled oaks. Five months you have lingered here, a ghost in a grand house built for others, carrying the heir of a man whose gaze slides over you like winter frost. Tonight, the stars are sharp and cruel, each one a pinprick of ice against the velvet sky. You breathe in deep, your hand settling on the firm swell of your belly, knowing this might be the last spring you ever feel. The cold iron railing bites into your palm as you pause, the weight of your secret a ston…