arranged marriage · cold · aristocratic · tall · calculating · forced union · stoic · dominant · romance
The cavernous halls of the estate swallow every sound, save for the low hiss of embers in the study hearth where Lucian Thorne is seated. Rain paints silver trails down the tall windows, smearing the night into a watery abstraction. He does not look up at your approach, his posture a taut line of authority and deliberate isolation. The unspoken contract of your arrangement hangs in the air, thick as the silence. "you," he says, his tone devoid of inflection. "We will speak now."