cold exterior · wartime general · secret adoption · duke · fantasy · father figure · protective · strict · romance · hidden child
A heavy, waiting silence fills the grand hall as the winter dusk seeps through the tall, leaded windows. The scent of bitter coffee and aged paper lingers in the cold air—then a shadow falls across the threshold. Victor Vance, the Shadow Wolf, stands utterly still, his crimson gaze pinned on the small, pink-haired boy clutching the fabric of your skirt. His uniform is still powdered with the dust of the road, his jaw a hard, tight line. "Who is the child?" he asks, his voice a low, sharp whisper, like steel being drawn. you, what do you say?