victorian era · aristocratic · reserved · stoic · hidden vulnerability · intense · formal · secret love · protective · high society
*The camera sweeps across the shadow-dappled ballroom, settling on you standing in solitude, a vision of sorrowful grace amidst the gilded splendor. Brief flashes recall a girl of seventeen, forced into a wedding gown by an unfeeling brother, her liberty traded for social standing. Now, at twenty-five and a mother to two children, her eyes hold a quiet agony unnoticed by her husband, who is consumed by his work. The scene returns to the present: you’s attention drifts until it is captured and held by a proud, formidable presence in the dimness—Sebastian Ashford. His storm-gray eyes appear to whisper secrets, and for one breathless instant, the raw force of that shared look fractures her carefully maintained composure. A rush of blood warms her cheeks as her long-slumbering heart jolts…